Fairview fans came out in droves for the Aggies' first game at Cullman's Oliver Woodard Stadium.

FAIRVIEW — Fairview’s nine football seniors will never play another snap at Dafford Smith Stadium. Senior marching band members will never perform another halftime show under their familiar Friday night lights. And the senior student body and cheerleaders will never root on their Aggies — as high schoolers — from the same home stands they’ve always known.

These are all harsh realities in the wake of last week’s grim news that Fairview’s stadium had been deemed unsafe for the season. Longtime deterioration to both sides of bleachers left the Aggies without a true home on the eve of their opener, a conundrum Cullman High helped solve by offering Oliver Woodard Stadium to its county brethren for the entire fall.

Fairview coach George Redding is obviously grateful the Bearcats stepped in when his squad needed it most. However, he can’t help but still be saddened for the school’s students who entered their senior years with entirely different expectations for how the first few months would play out.

“Some of your greatest memories are going to come from Friday night football, so a little bit of that seems like that’s been taken away from them,” Redding said. “This is home. This is where you’re comfortable. This is where we practice, where we work. This is where we have a lot of our major events. This is where you do it all.

“The reward is supposed to be Friday nights here at Dafford Smith Stadium. So not getting to do it here, that’s going to be different for them.”

The timing of the field fiasco couldn’t have been any worse for Fairview.

There was only a shade more than 24 hours until the team’s highly anticipated home and season opener against Hanceville when an engineer arrived on campus. Redding was aware of the ramifications from said visit, but he didn’t want to “cross that bridge” with his players before the circumstances were known for sure.

The team had already been dismissed for the day by the time the engineer delivered the dire news. Redding quickly reached out to everyone to let them know what was going on and then stayed put at the field house with his coaching staff until nearly 10 p.m.

Football players, parents and community members alike flooded in to talk and ask questions about the inopportune predicament.

And then Redding addressed the kids.

“I’ll be honest — that was tough,” he said. “You could’ve heard a pin drop in the room because it felt like a lot of the air was let out of it. And that’s not the feeling you want the night before you play a game.”

Lineman Cody Nichols was hit especially hard by the announcement.

“It was devastating,” he said. “Very devastating, because I was looking forward to our first home game as a senior. And it just didn’t happen.”

The revelation wasn’t any easier for Jackson Smith. The wide receiver and defensive back had been amped up for the start of his senior campaign after two seasons away from the program.

“It doesn’t seem real that me playing my ninth-grade year would be the last time I played on that field,” Smith said. “It’s crazy.”

If there’s a single silver lining to take away from the tragic turn of events, it’s the stadium Cullman High is sharing with the Aggies this fall.

Redding called Oliver Woodard Stadium “an unbelievable facility” and added “the atmosphere is jaw-dropping.” That latter aspect could’ve had something to do with Fairview’s rocky start against Hanceville. High throws, dropped balls, a couple bad snaps and a few penalties had the Aggies searching for its groove early before eventually pulling away for a 27-12 triumph.

“There was a point there toward the end of the first quarter where we kind of had to rally ourselves and say, ‘Look, we’re through looking at the stadium. We’re through looking at all the other stuff. It’s time to get to work,’” Redding recalled. “I felt like our guys really started doing that from the second quarter on.”

In Nichols’ eyes, nowhere compares to Dafford Smith Stadium. Even still, his review of the Bearcats’ state-of-the-art facility was nothing but positive.

“It’s real nice,” Nichols said. “The turf’s a little bit different than playing on grass, but it could be worse.

“I think a lot of them for letting us use it.”

Fairview traveled to Randolph for its region opener Friday and will return to town this week for homecoming against Boaz.

Redding raised the question of how unimaginable it would’ve been for the Aggies to have their homecoming game on the road. That realistically might’ve been their only option if Cullman hadn’t come through in the clutch, though.

“Having a place we can call home is big,” Redding said. “It’s not home, but it is for us for five weeks out of the year. Having a familiar venue at least five times is so much better than going to 10 different places.”

Smith echoed his coach’s sentiments.

“It’d be hard to go play 10 road games,” he said. “I thank them that we have a home away from home.”

Crazily enough, Fairview’s and Cullman’s only scheduling conflict would’ve been Sept. 12, the night of the Aggies’ homecoming. But the ’Cats home and region opener versus Florence was tapped for Thursday night TV late in the summer, allowing both teams’ games to be played at the same site on consecutive nights.

Other than that, Fairview is on the road every time Cullman is at home, and vice versa. The remarkable realization has Redding believing “maybe someone else had their hand in this long before we thought about it.”

Nichols agreed.

“I think everything happens for a reason,” he said. “Maybe it was in God’s plan for us to play at somebody else’s field. Maybe so people didn’t get hurt here.

“I mean, I don’t know. None of us know.”

Redding first contacted Cullman coach Mark Britton in the middle of last week to discuss the developments at Dafford Smith Stadium. Redding said Britton was extremely receptive to assist the Aggies but first wanted to talk to the Bearcats’ administration and city superintendent before setting anything in stone.

Everyone ended up signing off on the agreement when the stadium debacle went public early Thursday evening.

“There’s always a common saying, ‘Let me know if you need any help,’” Redding said. “Everybody says that, but do you actually mean it? And for them, they meant it.

“You’re talking about Thursday afternoon, 6:30, calling them back saying, ‘We really need your help.’ And they stepped up without a problem. To me, that speaks a lot about character and a willingness to serve other people.”

Of course, there was one apparent reason why Britton might’ve been so quick to lend a helping hand. Before taking over the Black and Gold program in 2001, he launched his head coaching career with a three-season stint (1998-2000) at Fairview.

Bonus tidbit: Britton gave Redding his first job as a teacher and coach when the latter was fresh out of college.

So is this proof the city-county relationship isn’t as bad off as folks like to make it? That’s not a question that’s easily answered. What Redding does know, however, is that in the grand scheme of life, every area school should have the same set of priorities — kids first, then winning football games.

“No matter if you’re coaching in the county or coaching in the city, we still have the same job,” he said. “To me, that’s the only thing that really matters.”

A timetable for repairs is currently unknown. County superintendent Craig Ross previously told The Times maintenance and upkeep generally falls to the schools, though the policy could be reevaluated considering the Aggies’ current situation. He also said the board will likely have to step in financially because large-scale renovations may be too costly for Fairview to shoulder on its own.

Redding said he’s under the impression the school and community is looking for Fairview to “take action now.” He’s in the same boat, so long as no shortcuts are taken in the process. The coach wants everything done “to the highest level possible,” not just because he believes “our school or our kids deserve it,” but because “any school or any kids deserve it.”

“I’ve got all the confidence in the world that Dr. Ross and Dr. (Brandon) Payne are going to do the things that we need and give us a place that we can be proud of,” Redding said. “I look forward to the process and the direction that we’ll go.”

When the Aggies’ football venue eventually reopens, it should feature an array of improvements that increases the gameday experience and, more importantly, makes fans feel safe.

One change that won’t be made, though? The name.

“This is Dafford Smith’s house. He just lets us play in it from time to time,” Redding said. “This place will always be Dafford Smith Stadium.”