The need for a new press box at Bud Mendenhall Field at Triton Central High School is obvious.

With increased live video streaming productions as well as local news and radio coverage, the 18-foot press box that also houses the public address announcer, scoreboard operators and assistant coaches is just not adequate, according to Northwestern Consolidated Schools system superintendent Chris Hoke.

On Tuesday, the school board approved an emergency contract to get a larger press box completed by the start of the 2021 football season.

Antal Building Corporation, based in Avon, Indiana, will oversee construction of a 39-foot press box.. Antal has worked on two previous projects for the school system – the second phase of the elementary school renovation and a renovation project at Triton Central Middle School.

With faith the company can meet a deadline and not surpass the $175,000 estimate, the board approved the project unanimously.

“We have a very short timeframe,” said Hoke during the meeting. “We can get in there and start doing (demolition) in early May and have it done by mid-August and the start of the football season. We have a very compressed time frame.”

The project would maintain the entry way at Mendenhall Field and include repair work on the ticket booth.

Triton Central’s first home game of the 2021 football season is Aug. 27 against Greensburg.

In other business, the board agreed to continue using Chartwells Food Service. The five-year contract will begin its third year with Northwestern Consolidated Schools in 2021. The contract rolls over each year but still needs board approval.

The board was informed by Triton Central High School athletic director Bryan Graham it will see a $5,000-plus bill for using an outside contractor to move the weight room equipment into the new weight room built inside the fieldhouse. Once the spring sports season is over, equipment will be moved and catalogued to determine what new equipment is needed.

Graham also informed the board that the newly-remodeled fieldhouse hosted its first event Saturday and Sunday. Approximately 75 boys and girls basketball teams were in Fairland.

“There were 121 games in two days,” said Graham.

Reviews of the fieldhouse facility were excellent and traffic flow around the buildings on campus was much improved.

The board also honored Triton Central Middle School eighth-grader Blaine Raider (photo above) for recently winning the 3D Archery middle school state championship.

Rather than shooting at traditional bullseye targets, 3D archery provides 3D animal targets with smaller target areas to hit.