BRADFORD, Vt. — Oxbow High School’s fall sports season will tentatively go on as planned now that athletic fields that were damaged in an act of vandalism last month are on their way to being repaired.

The high school teams resumed practicing on the school’s athletic fields Monday after a week on fields at other schools that belong to the Orange East Supervisory Union.

“It will be a constant day-to-day assessment to see how the fields are holding up and responding,” said Heidi Wright, athletic and activities director at Oxbow High School. “At this point, it’s waiting to see what Mother Nature throws at them, in addition to the athletic use.”

The repairs were necessary after all of the high school’s fields were damaged in mid-July by someone who intentionally drove a vehicle onto the grass and created deep ruts across the playing surfaces.

A call to the Bradford Police Department, which is investigating the vandalism, was not returned before deadline Monday.

Coaches who use the fields have been asked to avoid running the same drills in the same places in the newly planted grass.

“They want us to move around the field,” boys soccer coach Chuck Simmons said. “Of course it’s big enough that we can do that.”

Last week, the team practiced at Blue Mountain Union School in Wells River, Vt. Athletes either drove there themselves or they met at Oxbow High School around 6 a.m., from where Simmons drove them to Blue Mountain in a bus to their 6:30 a.m. practice.

“I can’t thank Blue Mountain enough for allowing us to use their field to practice on,” Simmons said.

The July incident was the second time the fields were vandalized in less than a year: A man was cited with criminal mischief last November after police said he drove a pickup truck on the high school’s fields.

“The first vandalism was visible. People could see that the fields were literally torn up,” said Newbury. Vt. resident, Danielle Corti, chairwoman of the Oxbow Unified Union School District School Board, which includes Bradford and Newbury. “The second one wasn’t visible.”

That’s because grass grew to cover the damage, making it harder to see the deep ruts and tire tracks that covered the soccer and football fields, among others.

“There was nothing that was really left undamaged,” Corti said.

It cost $80,000 to repair the fields after both incidents, she added. The school’s insurance covered the costs and the district will be responsible for paying its $2,500 deductible.

So far, in addition to moving last week’s practices to other schools, Oxbow rescheduled a home girls varsity soccer scrimmage early this week to an away scrimmage, said Corti.

“We’re just not 100% sure the turf is ready for that,” Corti said.

There is a second scrimmage planned at the high school later this week, but it is dependent on the condition of the fields.

School officials will be keeping a close eye on the weather. Rain is needed for the newly planted grass to better take root. If there’s a stretch where it is hot with little rainfall, the grass could potentially dry up and go dormant.

“Then we’d have to make adjustments,” Wright said. “It’s hard to make long-term plans when we’re in day-to-day territory.”

All groups other than middle and high school teams will continue to be prohibited from using the athletic fields, Corti said. That includes Bradford Youth Football, which — without a field to play on — has canceled its season.

To prevent future vandalism to the fields, Oxbow staff have been assessing where they can place barriers or other types of fences.

“I would personally like to see some kind of barrier, but a troublemaker is going to find their way into wherever they’re going,” Simmons, the soccer coach, said. “It may deter them, but I don ‘t know if it will completely keep them out.”

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