Norwin set for one last football game before massive stadium renovation

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, October 23, 2025 | 5:56 PM

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It won’t be long before much of Norwin Knights Stadium is a pile of rubble, the home-side bleachers, press box and back-of-house areas torn down, the turf and track ripped up to make room for the next “Castle.”

The new place is expected to look like a million bucks. OK, 25.4 million bucks.

Construction is scheduled to begin Nov. 3, which means the final varsity sports event will be Friday night’s home football game against Mt. Lebanon.

The host Knights will be playing for a WPIAL 6A playoff spot, so a win would be quite a sendoff for the old venue, whose crumbling interior and mold issues called for more than patch-job repairs.

Norwin can also get into the postseason for the first time since 2017 if Canon-McMillan loses to Central Catholic.

The restored stadium is set to open in 2027.

“We obviously look forward and are excited about the new stadium and everything it will bring to not only our athletic program, but the school district as a whole,” Knights football coach Mike Brown said. “It’s going to provide our student-athletes with a top-tier facility that matches the level of work and dedication they bring every day. We’re grateful for the support from the administration and everyone involved in making this happen, and we’re looking forward to calling it home.”

Soon, fencing will go up around the two-story home side. Teams will still be able to practice on the field for now, athletic director Mike Burrell said.

Next year, spring and fall teams that use the stadium will play “home” games at away sites. The Knights will be Road Warriors. Several neighboring schools have been mentioned as possible makeshift locations, although plans are not finalized.

New seating, a rebuilt press box, community meeting rooms and concession areas are part of the new layout.

There also will be weight and training areas under the bleachers.

Knights Stadium opened in 1965 and underwent various renovation projects, including the construction of the current field house in 2006. That building will remain unchanged, although bleachers on the visitors’ side will undergo much-needed repairs and updates.

“I remember we used to have locker rooms under the bleachers on our side,” Norwin boys soccer coach Scott Schuchert said. “We used to dress in there when I played, before the field house.”

Norwin’s boys soccer team played its final game at the current iteration of the stadium Tuesday night and beat Woodland Hills, 4-0, in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs.

The girls soccer team was set to host Mt. Lebanon on Thursday night in their playoff opener following a first-round bye.

“This is something memorable, kind of like for the time capsule,” Schuchert said. We are so lucky here at Norwin to be able to have these kinds of things happen. It’s a privilege to coach and play here.”

Norwin has hosted numerous playoff games over the years, including WPIAL football finals.

The stadium, as athletes of the past and present know it, carries memories. Many say the place has character but needed an upgrade.

“One of my favorite memories was playing in both Moe Rosensteel games at our home stadium,” Norwin senior soccer player Nicole Bown said. “It was such an honor and a special moment that I will always remember. One more recent favorite memory was our team bringing back the section title to Norwin. A moment we will never forget.”

Burrell lists several moments as his favorite at the Castle, including the football team’s comeback win over Penn-Trafford last year in the first game with the new LED flashing lights, a PIAA boys soccer playoff game two years ago after Norwin won the WPIAL championship that drew more than 1,400 fans, and last week’s 24-21 football thriller against Canon-McMillan.

The Thomas Jefferson-McKeesport WPIAL football championship last year at Norwin also filled the stands.

“It was a packed house,” Burrell said. “Just a great atmosphere for high school sports.”

Burrell said the new stadium offers a number of positives.

“The advantages and benefits they will have is what I am looking forward to the most,” Burrell said.

Brown has only been with the program for a short time, but he has grown fond of the stadium.

“My favorite memories of being in the stadium would be the practices, summer workouts and fall camp,” he said. “The games were great, especially the wins like the comeback against Plum in ’23, the home opener against Penn Trafford in ’24 and the home games this year. But I will always cherish the practices and workouts in the stadium in the spring, middle of summer and during the season when it was the team working hard together.”

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

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