Although construction continues at River Islands High, it’s beginning to feel like home for students and faculty as they begin their second year on campus.
That’s certainly the case for Riptide sports teams that no longer have to go to different sites for practices and home games.
“We’ve come so far since the first year,” football player Jared Acaya said. “We’re making a lot of history here.”
Acaya, who also competes for the track team in the spring, is part of River Islands’ first senior class. With the added class, enrollment figures have swelled to about 860 from nearly 540 a year ago, meaning the Riptide will compete in higher divisions.
“We’ve been on campus with students for about a week now, and it’s abuzz,” River Islands Athletic Director Justin Graham said. “I don’t know if it’s because we have four complete classes now or just the sheer number of students, but it feels like a high school.”
More students also means fuller rosters and more opportunities for athletes.
Graham said that the girls volleyball program has had to make cuts at all three levels, and turnout for flag football has been good enough to field a deep team. Flag football coach Joseph Cataline’s has 21 players and expects to have a junior varsity team next year.
Graham anticipates the addition of a coed tennis team to make use of its eight new courts in the spring.
“It’s a popular sport in the community, and the kids are itching to play,” he said.
Most other teams will get to host events on campus.
The football team has five games at River Islands this season, and the hope is for permanent spectator bleachers to be installed by the Sept. 5 home opener against Modesto Christian. A scoreboard and stadium lights are already in place.
With the school gym still under construction, girls volleyball is practicing in the recently-completed River Islands Academies Community Gym, which is adjacent to campus on the corner of River Islands Parkway and Riptide Way. Home matches will also take place there. The volleyball and basketball teams previously practiced and played home games about a mile away at EPIC Academy elementary school.
“It’s going to be very nice to just walk to the gym for a game,” Graham said.
The softball field should be completed by the spring. The backstop, fences, outfield grass and scoreboard are already installed.
The baseball team will continue to play home games off campus, though the varsity team will be able to play at the state-of-the art Islanders Field facility. The Riptide played at Champions Field Community Park last season, as Islanders Field underwent renovations. The JV team is still playing at Champions Field.
River Islands’ girls volleyball team, which qualified for the playoffs in its inaugural varsity season, hosts a Foundation Game tonight against McNair starting at 7 p.m., while flag football welcomes Stagg on Thursday beginning at 6 for its first official contest. The Riptide football team travels to Waterford on Friday.
