By Colleen Kane
Enquirer staff writer

As the Mount St. Joseph football players left practice Tuesday afternoon, they walked across four newly painted words on the football field, gleaming blue and white in the afternoon sun.

"Home of the Lions." Home. That's a word the Mount football program hasn't experienced in its 15-year history, until this weekend.

The Lions will play the first football game on the Mount St. Joseph campus today when they face Wilmington at 1:30 p.m. in their newly constructed $7.5 million sports complex.

"About a week ago, when I walked out here for the first time, it was like a dream," senior offensive lineman Chris Hafertepen said. "Better than you could everimagine."

It has been a long time leading up to the dream.

Hafertepen and every football player in the Mount program since its inception in 1990 has had to play their "home games" off campus. Mount head coach Rod Huber, an assistant when the program began, called his team "gypsies," having bounced from Oak Hills, La Salle, Elder, Galbreath Field and then Mariemont the last two years. The trip "took the edge off," Huber said.

"You've really got to love football to do something like that. To get on a bus and ride 10 minutes, 30 minutes to a home game," Hafertepen said. "When you tell people, 'Come watch me play football,' and they ask where you play and you have to say 'Mariemont High School,' it's kind of disappointing to say you play in a high school."

They would tear up the grass fields at one high school and move to another field the next year. One year, they practiced at a public park because their practice field was torn up from construction.

"We would have played somebody in a parking lot. We were just happy to play," senior linebacker Brooks Klosterman said. "But it was tough as far as respect goes. You don't get much respect when you're a college team in a high school stadium."

They're hoping that will change now.

It was a plan that had been in people's minds for 15 years, Huber said. Last school year, the complex was officially announced as part of a $21.5 million expansion plan for the entire college. The finishing touches are still being added, but the product is "overwhelming," Huber said.

The Lions boast that their new facility is one of the best in the Midwest and in Division III. Everything's new. The field and 2,400-seat stands shine. The press box smells of fresh paint. The air-conditioned offices, locker rooms and training rooms have been occupied for only about a week. And the players' locker room has a big-screen TV, DVD player and VCR.

"We've had a tough time sometimes buying just VCRs, $500-600 stuff," Huber said. "So for us to have this commitment from (Mount president) Sister Francis Marie (Thrailkill), I think everyone is believing that Mount football is headed in the right direction. That it's no longer going to be a program that takes the second and third level of recruits."

The football program's numbers are the highest ever, with 95 players likely to dress for today's game. When Huber took over the team four years ago, he started with about 50 players. The new facility can only add to that, and Huber visited this year's recruits with pictures and drawings in tow.

His goal is to attract more players within a two-hour radius of Cincinnati, and he already has a handful of new players from Lexington, Louisville, Indiana and central Ohio.

"I want to be a regional football team, not a neighborhood team," Huber said. "I know what people would say about our recruiting. 'Mount's a good school, but they don't have any facilities. They play at a high school stadium.' And I didn't blame them. But I don't think anybody can say anything negative about our program now, because we have what they have."

Football isn't the only team benefiting. Athletic director Steve Radcliffe said each team's roster is as big as it has been. The women's soccer team began its home season Wednesday night with a dedication ceremony on the field. The track teams ran their first season last winter, in large part because they knew they would have a new track that will be finished by their second season.

A men's soccer team will begin play next fall, and men's and women's lacrosse teams are expected for the 2006-07 school year, Radcliffe said. All will use the facility.

"It fit nicely with our enrollment goals and objectives," Radcliffe said. "When you don't have a facility, it's hard to add more sports programs that will drive enrollment. ... Now this can serve as many as nine sports."

Today, the complex will serve as a celebration for the Mount's alumni and students. The Lions will start building the home fan base they never had and expect a sellout crowd, complete with tailgating. The players won't get to celebrate much beforehand. Huber said he's locking them in the locker room to keep them focused.

But come game time, that short trip from the locker room to a real home field will never feel so good.

"It's all worth it now," Klosterman said.

If you go

What: Mount St. Joseph's first football game on campus
When: Today
Where: The new Scheuler Field, 5701 Delhi Road
Cost: $5, adults; $2, students and seniors; free, children in eighth grade and younger

Schedule

• 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.: Q102 live radio broadcast at the sports complex; Lion's Roar marching band performances
• 1:10 p.m. - Pregame dedication ceremony
• 1:30 p.m. - Kickoff vs. Wilmington College
Log on: www.msj.edu

Home at last

In 14 seasons before this one, the Mount football team bounced to five different stadiums for home games:

• Elder High School
• Oak Hills High School
• La Salle High School
• Galbreath Field
• Mariemont High School