The NCC Thoroughbreds are home with the opening of the Ciafardini Family Athletic Complex

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds finally have a place to call home with the opening of the Ciafardini Family Athletic Complex, NCC’s new multi-million-dollar, state-of-the-art football, soccer and track facility. For decades, the football team has been nomadic, traveling from field to field to compete and play under the Friday night lights.

Now, they get to play under their own lights, on a field with NCC gold and blue, in front of a home crowd. The Thoroughbreds opened their season, Aug. 21, in just that way, in front of a crowd of over 1,500 spectators made up of students, families and alumni, with an energy that was hardly contained in the stands.

Bishop John Iffert was present to offer a prayer for the safety of both teams ahead of the competition, and that they play and represent themselves the way that God calls them to. This message is one that the players of the Newport Central Catholic team are familiar with, said principal Kenny Collopy.

“That’s really what it’s all about, is bringing everybody together, and ultimately that’s what God calls us to do — love each other and be there for each other. We call NCC a family, and that was evident on Friday night,” Mr. Collopy said.

Newport Central Catholic’s mission rests upon five pillars — faith, family, academics, community stewardship and character development — and the new complex supports “all of those things,” said Mr. Collopy.

“I always say we’re trying to maximize the opportunity for our students to get to heaven, and I truly believe that athletics in a field are a great way to learn some of the harder lessons in life, build resiliency, and become the best version of yourself, which is what God calls us to do,” he said.

Senior team captains, Van and Noah, agreed with Mr. Collopy.

“It’s just like everything we do here at NewCath, we’re all a family, we follow every rule, we just do everything to the best of our ability,” said Van.

“It just represents the community,” said Noah about the new complex. “It wouldn’t have been possible without all the donors and all the community that helped make it happen. I think that just shows what NewCath does for people even after they leave.”

A fact made even more evident by the number of volunteers who came to ensure the opening night’s success.

“Dozens of volunteers came to help out with parking, concessions, ticket taking,” said Mr. Collopy, “…many hands make light work, and that’s what really made it such a successful night was everybody coming together.”

“The best part for me,” he said, “was seeing the students on the field and in the stands … to see them out there finally was extremely fulfilling.”

Noah said, “I’ve never seen a student section that big … it was really fun, it was a really good atmosphere.”

After a year of construction and patiently waiting, Van said that being able to play a home game was “an awesome feeling. Looking up in the stands and seeing all those alumni, seeing our parents, all the fans, students. It was just an awesome feeling.”