(Dunlap) — After 18 months, the Concord Minutemen can finally go home again.

Three weeks before its football season opener with Elkhart (to be shown on Sports Michiana), Concord Community Schools held the official ribbon cutting on the new Jake Field Friday before about two hundred members of the community.

“It means the world to us that we can use the field again,” smiled Concord superintendent Dan Funston. “We’re going to get a lot of use out of this. We anticipate all the teams playing on here, being able to get out youth on here quite a bit. Our marching band can use it without any issues. For our students to be able to use it more and get the most out of this awesome facility is going to be great.”

Concord demolished the previous facility, sliding it to the south. That allowed the placement of a new 8-lane oval track around a turf field, construction of 4000 new seats (3000 home, 100 visitor), a new press box, a new video board, new concession stands and expanded restrooms, as well as team locker rooms at the south end of the stadium that can be used by both the home and visiting teams.

“We are benefitting from the people that came before us, and now we have to do our job and put a good product on the field,” admits Minuteman football coach Craig Koehler, who has been in the Concord system for 26 years. “It give us more credibility. Facilities matter, and especially in 2026 in the state of Indiana. It is an arms race.

“Indiana is an open enrollment state. We’re fortunate here that our people are in alignment. Our school board, our superintendent, our principal, our athletic director understand that athletics can help drive the success of a district. You cannot operate with subpar facilities and get to where everyone wants to get to.”

The reconstruction of Jake Field marks the area’s first new football stadium since Northridge opened its facility in 2020.  The video board brings an added component to the educational process for Concord.

“The scoreboard is an opportunity for a lot of kids to learn that craft,” notes Funston. “We’re starting a broadcasting class. They’ll have a chance to work on the graphics, broadcast some games, so that’s another opportunity that this creates for our students.”