Editorial: Bring on the Friday night lights

The first Friday night football game at San Lorenzo Valley High on Oct. 16 is a momentous occasion. There is a hubbub of activity around the game — the students at the school are talking about it, the administration is talking about it, and the word has spread like wildfire through the valley.
If the community shows up in droves and students decide that Friday night at the football field is where they’d like to be, the SLV Booster Club will likely decide to put its efforts into permanent lights at the field.
It’s an exciting proposition for a school that three short years ago played in a mud bowl during the winter and ran on a dirt track during the spring.
The boosters should be commended for their forward thinking, even in a difficult economy.
The club could sit back and ride out the bad economy, but instead, it is pushing forward with an idea to put up lights that will benefit the entire community. Nighttime activities at the sports complex at SLV are about the only thing missing after the completion of the all-weather track and artificial grass field.
However, Scotts Valley High deserves some credit for starting the Friday night lights tradition here two seasons ago. As the primary rival of San Lorenzo Valley High, its example of creating night games with borrowed and rented lights must have struck a chord among longtime SLV supporters.
If SLV’s lights are built, it’s only a matter of time before the Falcon Club decides to take on a similar project at Scotts Valley High. Club members are always working to upgrade the facility, but perhaps the idea of SLV playing night games will spur the club to ditch all other efforts and focus on its own quest for lights. And perhaps, instead of an out-of-state trip next season, fundraising money could be put toward a capital project.
Friday night football has a different vibe than Saturday games. We are excited for what it will mean to have the community together on a Friday watching football, eating nachos, chicken salad and burgers, enjoying fall evenings together in the valley.
Community members and students alike should convince the booster club that lights are a good idea. The freshman and JV games will be played Thursday, Oct. 15, and the varsity game starts at 7 Friday night.
It’s time to show up for a game. It could mean the difference between turning the lights project on and flipping the switch off.