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The South Carolina High School League State Championships will be held May 22-23, 2009 at Richland School District One's Memorial Stadium in Columbia, SC.

The move from the University of South Carolina's Stone Stadium became necessary when USC announced that they were having a new drainage system installed during the spring months.

Richland School District One's Memorial Stadium was constructed in 1953 and underwent major renovations in 2005 that included the addition of locker rooms, concession stands, a LED scoreboard, and an improved parking lot at the Rosewood athletics facility. The grounds also saw the addition of brand new lighted baseball and softball fields.

Pictures of Memorial Stadium (Google)

Directions

I know the S.C. High School League prefers that teams fan bases sit across from each other at Championship events and the spaciousness of Memorial Stadium makes it a commodity in the Midlands area. The field probably measures around 115x62 during the year and I believe it can be stretched out to around 66 yards in width (don't quote me on that figure). Last year's State Finals were played on the dimensions of around 116x68 at USC's Eugene E. Stone, III Stadium.

Kyle is correct. Memorial is a nice place to play. Round post goals. Field is overseeded with rye. We used to cut the field with a reel mower at 3/4 inch so it was very fast (not sure if it's still that way). Kline and I agreed to mark it at 116 (because of the field goals) x 63 as a compromise. You could probably get it to 67 in width without planting someone into the fence at the end of the field. Sound system upgraded at the same time they added the locker rooms and new scoreboards. Field is fairly flat...most of the crown has been removed. Good luck to all teams this year.

Thanks to Bo Sylvia of Lancaster HS who has volunteered to have the Bruins JV girls team handle the ball-chasing duties for the 3A (5:00 pm) and 4A (7:00 pm) matches on May 22 at the SCHSL State Championships.

Is this the venue where the state championships were held 4 or 5 years ago?

Any way we can scrap the current Spalding balls for ones that don't stick to cleats made of synthetic leather?

Just wishing...

And it is a cool environment for soccer. I played on that field my senior year (2004) and had a great time.

Is there a time assigned to which levels play when..i.e. 4A boys play when?

Wheet- Last year i believe the game times for boys were 11am, 1pm, 3pm and 5pm with 1A playing the early game and 4A in the night-cap. I know we kicked off in the 1A game at 11am. However, the times are affected by OT, PKs, etc. The girls are something like 3pm, 5pm and 7pm... but I am not sure about those times.

Brock- We asked that very question after the 2005 state championship games. From what we learned is that since the SCHSL has some kind of sponsorship deal with Spaulding, the SCHSL must use their product in all state championship games. While Spaulding makes quality volleyballs, basketballs and footballs, they still miss the mark when it comes to soccer. Perhaps they should allow high schools to purchase their match ball at a discounted rate so that schools could get used to their unique idea of what a "game ball" should act like.

The Upper State is the host school so they will sit on the pressbox side. Teams will be opposite each other like we have done in the past. We will have a 4th & 5th official to work the sides with subs & bench control.