Footballers add new digs at park

High Point Hawks Midget Club will develop its own ball field, By Tom Hoffman WANTAGE - The High Point Hawks Midget Football Club has reached an agreement with Wantage Township to develop a section of Woodbourne Park as a football field under a 30-year lease. The league, which draws some 350 players and cheerleaders from Wantage, Sussex Borough, Augusta, Lafayette, Frankford and Branchville, will use the field being constructed for all of its football divisions, said its president Paul Pfeil. Under its agreement with Wantage Township, the football club will pay no money to use the field exclusively from July 1 through Dec. 31 each year, said Pfeil. However, the league is putting up an estimated $26,000 in materials and labor costs to develop the field, which was recently brush cut, according to Pfeil. The league has hired Branchville contractor Richard Wingle to develop the field, he said. The agreement now provides the football club with a third site. The league currently uses Brookside Park in Sussex Borough for games and practices as well as the Sussex County Fairgrounds in Augusta for 8- to 14-year-old tackle football players. “Wantage Township is fortunate to have an ongoing successful partnership with the High Point Midget Football program, as well as with the Sussex Wantage Little League program, Sussex Wantage Softball program and High Point Soccer Club serving our youth,” said Wantage Township Administrator Jim Doherty. “We appreciate the dedication and initiative that Paul Pfeil and his organization have shown.” Pfeil said the league also intends to use the new field at Woodbourne Park when it hosts the North Jersey Youth Football League playoffs in 2010.