Archbishop Carroll football now has an official new home, or homes, for the 2024 season.
The Patriots will split games between Norristown Area High School and Wissahickon High School for Friday night lights come the fall.
“It’s all about who is taking us,” said Mr. Thomas Quintois, Carroll’s athletic director. “Not everyone post-Covid has been willing to take on games. I’m not blaming this on Covid, but I’m saying it was a lot easier pre-Covid to find people that want to host us. Taking on a football game in any realm is difficult. It’s a major undertaking and more than people understand.”
It’s been nearly six seasons since the Patriots played home games at Joseph McNichol Stadium on Carroll’s campus. Since then, the Patriots have hosted games at various venues, ranging from Villanova Stadium to the Conshohocken “A” Field.
In 2024, despite the obvious lack of a consistent home field, the Patriots will be able to play host to all their home games on turf.
Both Norristown and Wissahickon possess turf fields, which is something the Patriots have not had.
“Playing on turf is major for us,” said freshman quarterback Jay Boyd. “Especially practicing all week on grass and dirt, we have a better chance of executing on turf than grass.”
The Patriots will host a clean split of five out of ten games at home in 2024, beginning with a 7 p.m. August 23 matchup against William Tennant at Norristown.
They’ll follow that up with back-to-back home games against Simon Gratz Charter at 6 p.m. Sept. 6 at Wissahickon and against Archbishop Wood at 7 p.m. Sept. 13 at Norristown.
Finally, after a four-game road trip, the Patriots will return home for their final two games of the season: 7 p.m. Oct. 18 against Conwell-Egan at Norristown and 7 p.m. Oct. 25. against West Catholic at Wissahickon.
“Our guys have always advocated for Friday night football under the lights,” said Carroll football head coach Kyle Detweiler. “That was priority one and we want to give that to them. Turf is secondary to the Friday night lights, but still really important to this team. The league doesn’t always lend itself to playing on turf and/or playing on Friday nights, but having a chance to accomplish both by using Norristown and Wissahickon is something I’m excited about for our players.”
With the home fields set for the Patriots in 2024, the next step for the Pats is to now hit the field for offseason workouts as the season approaches.