WILLIAMSTOWN - The Williamstown High School soccer program finally has a home to call its own.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony complete with city officials and school administrators marked the grand opening of Huggins Field last Saturday.

"We're ecstatic to put it mildly," Williamstown soccer coach Bob Winkler said.

The field is located behind Legion Field on Morris Street in Williamstown. Denny and Sherri Huggins donated the 6 1/2 acres of property.

"The Huggins are concerned community members who have turned our dream of a soccer field for the Williamstown High School program into reality," Winkler continued. "Without their invaluable support for our program we would not have the facility that we can call our own."

Since making its debut as a varsity sport three years ago, Williamstown has utilized several venues as its unofficial home. In the beginning, Yellowjacket home games took place at the former Walker Plant along West Virginia 14. But when Hino Motors bought the facility, Williamstown had to look for alternative solutions.

Last year, Williamstown held a large share of its home games at the Tri-C complex in Washington. This year, Wood County Christian School was gracious enough to allow the Yellowjackets to play homes games at its site.

"It was difficult to represent your home school when we were playing in other towns, at other facilities and at other schools," Winkler said.

But thanks to the Huggins' generosity, Williamstown is able to settle into its own friendly confines. Negotiations began last November and the transaction took place this past July.

Through the tireless efforts of people like Fred Cannon, his son Eddy Cannon, Lawrence VanHorn, Tim Thomas, Joe and Terry Shaw and their respective families the facility began to take shape so that when the Kentucky Bluegrass arrived from Indiana six weeks ago they were able to sod the field.

"We watered that sod 24/7 with a hundred feet of hose and sprinklers- there were numerous sprinklers," Winkler said.

Fundraising efforts by the Williamstown soccer program are paying the bills, which reached $25,000 - including $21,000 just for the sod.

For the long-term, having something to call your own was well worth the wait.

"We took lemons and made lemonade, and now the lemonade tastes very good," Winkler said.

The taste is even sweeter now that Williamstown is in the winning mode. After Tuesday's 4-1 win at Ravenswood, the Yellowjackets carry a record of 11-6-2. They complete the regular season portion of their schedule at 5 p.m. today when they entertain South Harrison at Huggins Field.

"In the last four years, Williamstown soccer has grown from 30 players to over 200 who play soccer in this town and the Huggins family knows it," Winkler said. "They had something we needed and really stepped up to fill a big, big void for the lives of kids in this community."