Scituate High School's biggest win of the week wasn't on the field. It was the field.

SCITUATE — The Scituate boys lacrosse team’s home opener couldn’t have gone better. The Spartans dominated early and put up eight goals in the first quarter before Tiverton knew what was going on. The day ended in a 14-8 win, but that was hardly the biggest victory for the Spartans.

Playing where they did was.

Caito Field opened in the fall of 2019 as the crown jewel of the Scituate athletic community. But in the spring of 2021, sinkholes forced its closure and left the Scituate School District fighting with the field’s architect and designers about repairs of the field, warranties and other fine-print details that left students unable to use it for their respective sports.

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That changed last weekend when the School Committee signed a settlement with Gale Associates, R.A.D. Corporation and The Robinson Green Beretta Corporation and officially opened the field for use.

“The School Committee vote was Friday [April 5], the field was open Saturday and our PE classes were all out there on Monday morning using the field,” Scituate High School principal Michael Hassell said. “After school, we had teams out there and kids just going out to be active and hanging out.

“There’s definitely a positivity among the school culture with the field being back open again.”

“It’s been mobbed every single day,” Scituate athletic director Sal Gelsomino said. “Starting as early as Saturday, there were boys out there kicking a soccer ball around and the boys and girls lacrosse teams were out. The track teams are dying to get back out there.

“The field still feels fantastic and it’s really a ‘I-can’t-believe-it’ type of deal.”

Count Ethan Lightfoot among the many Scituate students excited about Caito Field’s re-opening. This week’s lacrosse practices were the first time Lightfoot stepped on the field since middle school gym class. He hoped to play on it once he got to high school, but before his freshman lacrosse season started, Caito Field was shut down.

The last game played at Caito was on April 18, 2021, a spring football game between Exeter-West Greenwich and Davies — a program in its second year of existence that used Caito as its home field. COVID cancelations prevented Scituate from playing a single game at home that spring, making the boys soccer team the last Scituate team to play at Caito when it earned a 3-3 draw with Middletown on Nov. 15, 2020.

The Scituate's boys lacrosse team never had a chance to play at Caito Field. The Spartans had their 2020 season wiped out by COVID and the field was shut down before the COVID-shortened 2021 season started.

Postponements delayed the Spartans home opener — scheduled to be played at Manning Field — and the timing of the agreement worked out perfectly so Lightfoot and his teammates could play a home opener they'd never forget.

“We’ve had a beautiful turf field we’ve just been staring at for four years,” Lightfoot said. “Finally getting back on it is unreal, especially for my senior year is great.”

“We’ve never had an experience like this,” said sophomore Grant Bailey, who scored seven goals in Scituate’s 14-8 win on Thursday. “It’s been awesome. A bunch of teams were wearing their jerseys [in school]. We had more kids show up to a lacrosse game than we had show up to football games. It was awesome to see the support.”

The Scituate girls lacrosse team is set to play its first home game on April 25, but coach Jena Remka is hoping they’ll be able to play one of their previously postponed games during spring vacation (next week) so they can experience it for themselves.

“They’ve stuck it out for so many years, so they deserve this,” Remka said. “Last year we went pretty far in the playoffs and we did feel we had a homefield advantage because we were playing at Manning, but these girls have worked their butts off and deserve to [play at Caito Field].

“As soon as Caito Field was open, these girls started immediately training so they could get used to being on the turf.”

Football coach Damon Scarduzio was also loving the announcement. The Spartans have been playing home games at Johnston High School while Caito was closed, but having football back at Scituate isn’t the only reason he’s excited.

“I’m more ecstatic because now we can use it for practice,” said Scarduzio, who was using a back field at the high school that suffered from drainage issues. “… We’re grateful for Johnston for letting us use their field and we got great support their, but once we open games at the school we’re going to get a better crowd.

“Kids are ecstatic because our weight room is right outside the field, so they’ll be able to do our pregame walk and they’re all really looking forward to it.”

“The perseverance our students showed and parents and the community showed was unbelievable,” Hassell said. “Maybe in another community, more people would have come out with pitchforks, but there was a lot of trust at the high school and trust for me and people making those decision.

“Morale wasn’t where it should have been and while we’re grateful to Johnston for opening their field to us, home games just weren’t the same.”

Having Caito Field back is a big win for the high school teams, but should be a boon for the high school as a whole. Scituate has seen students use the state’s Career and Technical Education program to find educational opportunities in other districts or go the private school route. Hassell said one of the reasons families said they were looking at those options was because of the lack of a proper athletic facility.

Caito Field's reopening should change that. Hassell said projected numbers for current eighth-grade students leaving the district are down and applications for the school’s own pathways program are on the rise.

“Tides have turned,” Hassell said. “People have learned about the academics and amazing athletes we have, despite the field being closed.”

The Scituate boys lacrosse team gave Caito a proper opening. The Spartans scored eight goals in the first quarter, led 10-2 at halftime, and had no issues making sure the lead stuck.

When the final buzzer sounded the Spartans had a 14-8 victory over Tiverton, but Scituate was going to be a big winner no matter what the scoreboard said.

“The school is thriving,” Hassell said. “And the fact the Caito Field is back is icing on the cake.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Caito Field, closed since 2021, reopened at Scituate High School April 11