BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) -- A bill making sure all California championship high school football games are played on equal fields awaits the governor's signature.
Senate Bill 486 comes months after Shafter High School lost a championship game on a muddy field last season at Orland High School in Northern California. The inspiration for the bill comes from the strong words of a fired up football coach.
"A small town in the middle of nowhere just changed the whole state of California," said Shafter Head Football Coach, Jerald Pierucci, during the Shafter versus Chavez postgame on Friday.
The Shafter high school head football coach vocalized his frustrations about the playing conditions after losing a championship game in a muddy mess last year in December at Orland High School. The rant was aimed at the California Interscholastic Federation, which has been governing all high school sports in the state for more than 100 years.
"It is a shame on the CIF that they allow a state championship game to be played on a field like this when you got Division 1 and 2 teams playing on turf," said Coach Pierucci in December 2022. "You guys in the CIF should know better than this bull crap."
California State Senator Melissa Hurtado, the Democratic senator out of Bakersfield, listened to Pierucci's grievance and took it to the capitol. Hurtado authored Senate Bill 486 -- a document aimed at ensuring all high school divisions in California get to play at neutral sites in championship games.
Coach Pierucci couldn't be more pleased.
"I'm just happy for the kids," Coach Pierucci said. "I'm happy for all the small schools now that are going to get the opportunity to play on the big stage like the big schools, like it should be when you play for a state championship."
Governor Gavin Newsom has 12 days to sign or veto the bill.
The Shafter High School Generals are currently undefeated at 5-0 in the 2023 season.
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