THE NEW stadium at Bolsa Grande High brought out a big crowd for the first game in August 2019 (Tribune photo).

It’s About Time. Katella High School in Anaheim is finally getting its own football stadium. The Anaheim Union High School District announced this week that groundbreaking for the new track and field and stadium facilities on Thursday, Oct. 8.

This is good news. No only will KHS get the stadium for football (and other uses) but there will also be a professional-grade all-weather track, synthetic turf fields, dedicated areas for track and field events and spaces “supporting” soccer and marching band.

The stadium will have seating capacity for about 1,500 spectators. For years, schools in Anaheim had two places for football: La Palma Park with very little parking, and Handel Field on the Western High School campus. That meant that some schools played their “home” games away from campus.

This represents a welcome trend. In the Huntington Beach Union High School District – which for years only had stadiums at HBHS and Westminster High – now they have them at Ocean View and Marina.

Sports facilities are important at a high school. Not more important than academics, of course, but still a big deal. Over the past decades and years, the numbers of students taking part in athletics has kept growing, reaching – perhaps, in some cases – 50 percent of the student body.

“New” sports at the prep level are lacrosse and girls’ flag football, and – frankly – boys’ flag football is probably not far behind.

The Garden Grove Unified School District did great by tearing down and re-building the stadiums at GGHS and Bolsa Grande. If the GGUSD ever found a bunch of extra money lying around, a stadium at Pacifica High wouldn’t be a bad idea, either …