BRADFORD, Vt. — For the second time in less than a year, an act of vandalism has caused significant damage to athletic fields at Oxbow High School, and this time it could disrupt the upcoming fall sports season.

The fields will be unusable until at least next Friday, said Danielle Corti, a Newbury, Vt., resident who chairs the Oxbow Unified Union School District School Board, which includes members from both Bradford and Newbury.

“We’re trying to find alternative locations, to find spaces, for our athletes to transition to,” Corti said.

Football practices were scheduled to start this coming Monday at the high school and other fall sports practices including soccer were set to follow as the week continued.

“Right now, we’re not 100% sure that the seasons will be able to go off as scheduled. We might have to make adjustments,” Corti said. “Teams might have to play at other schools; maybe an abridged season.”

There are around 100 middle and high school students who participate in fall sports that use the damaged fields.

In mid-July, a car was caught on a surveillance camera creating deep ruts in the Oxbow playing fields, including the football field and surrounding dirt track, two soccer fields, and baseball and softball fields.

“Unfortunately because it’s a playing surface, even damage to one part of the surface creates an issue for the entire field,” Corti said.

Vermont State Police said a silver Honda Civic seen on the surveillance footage of the Oxbow vandalism, was “similar-looking” to a car connected to damage of athletic fields on July 14 at Waits River Valley School in Topsham, Vt.

On July 20, VSP located a juvenile suspect in the Waits River incident.

The juvenile, who police have not named, was scheduled to appear in Orange County Family Court to answer to the charge of unlawful mischief, a felony.

It is unclear if anyone has been charged in connection with the Oxbow incident; attempts to reach VSP about the case were not successful.

It is the second time in less than a year that the high school’s fields were damaged by someone intentionally driving a vehicle onto them.

Last November, a man was cited with criminal mischief after authorities said he drove a pickup truck on the school’s fields.

Corti said that Oxbow’s soccer, softball and baseball fields that were damaged in November were still in the midst of being repaired at a cost of around $40,000 when this summer’s incident occurred.

“This new additional damage puts us back to trying to repair the repairs we were doing,” Corti said.

She estimated that the total cost from both incidents will be more than $70,000.

“We’re anticipating that there will be the ability to have some insurance claims on it, but obviously that’s still funds that somebody has to cover,” she said.

Chuck Simmons, who coaches soccer at Oxbow High School, among other sports, said he hoped that student-athletes will be able to find usable field space at the high school for practice, which begins Thursday, Aug. 15.

Still, Simmons said, the repeated damage to the fields does not sit well with the school’s athletic community.

“I just think it’s a frustration level on all our parts as parents, as coaches, as student-athletes,” Simmons said. “I just hope when the season starts that it stops so we don’t have to find different avenues of either practicing or even playing games.”

The effect of the vandalism goes beyond high school sports.

The district announced last Friday that the public will have limited access to the athletic fields at Oxbow High School, due to the damage.

The decision has displaced some community groups.

Corti said district officials held off on informing the greater public because they were initially uncertain how much of an effect the vandalism would have.

“I think there was the hope that the damage wasn’t significant but unfortunately that’s not the case,” she said. “We wanted to make sure we had accurate information before reaching out to everyone and alarming people.”

Among the outside groups that use the fields is Bradford Youth Football. On Monday, the organization announced that it had to cancel its season as a result.

Last year, the program had around 50 kids in grades kindergarten through eighth grade participate, said Michael Fredieu, who chairs the Bradford Youth Football board and serves as a coach.

Equipment was scheduled to be distributed this weekend and the first practice was scheduled for Monday, Aug. 12.

“When we discussed it as a group we knew it was going to be very difficult to pivot and try to secure a facility this late,” Fredieu said.

The organization needed to let the Northern Vermont Youth Football League — to which Bradford Youth Football belongs — months in advance where practice and games would be held so that insurance could be secured.

“To try to get a facility on such short notice and to try to go through all the hoops of the league to get the insurance correct, it’s just such a tall ask on such short notice,” Fredieu said.

For years, Bradford Youth Football has used the Oxbow football field for free and many of its players go on to play at the high school.

Since the board announced its season was canceled, coaches from other youth football teams have reached out to say that they’d have spots for Bradford players.

On Tuesday, Oxbow staff learned that workers needed more time to treat the extensive damage the vehicle caused on the fields.  

“It’s not like it’s just a quick fill and plant some grass,” Corti said, adding that the grass needs time to grow and the trenches created by the vehicles need to be leveled. “That work needs to be given time to rest and settle to see how the fields respond.”

Corti said school officials also have started to explore options to prevent future damage.

There currently aren’t any barriers or fences that prevent people from driving onto the fields from the high school’s parking lot and access roads.

“Our fields are vulnerable. We obviously know that,” Corti said. “We’ve been very fortunate that we haven’t had to worry too  much about that. Obviously this past year has made us rethink that so we’re working to come up with a temporary solution to prevent this vandalism from happening again.”

Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.