CARLSBAD – If the Carlsbad High football team is to make another section title run this season, the Lancers will have to become road warriors.

Soil tests last week revealed elevated levels of arsenic 6 inches below the football field, and the field has subsequently been condemned, school board President Elisa Williamson said yesterday.

The routine testing was part of the school's planned expansion, which was to include the demolition of the football field and track at the end of this year's football season. With the results of last week's tests, however, orange fencing has been assembled around the field and the Lancers will be playing on a new surface earlier than they imagined.

“It's closed down and nobody can use it, so we're looking for another place to play our home games,” said head football coach Bob McAllister, adding that the team is trying to make arrangements to use other schools' stadiums. “We have calls in to Vista, La Costa Canyon, San Marcos and some other schools. We'll see what happens.”

The Lancers have been one of the San Diego Section's most dominant teams over the past several years, losing just four games in three years and winning three of the past six Division I championships.

“It's pretty frustrating because (the baseball field we're practicing on) is the biggest field we've got, and there are maybe 40 yards of real field,” McAllister said. Home games “are a big fundraiser not just for the school but for the whole community, and it will be tough to go on the road every week.”

Senior Ashston Barbour said it will be difficult to leave Swede Krcmar Field, where Carlsbad has had a profound home-field advantage, particularly during last year's dramatic comeback from a 26-0 deficit against Rancho Buena Vista.

“We won that game because our fans helped us come back – not many people left,” Barbour said. “We'll miss our crowd, but it will mean more time with our team – traveling together on the bus.”

Williamson said the arsenic levels found in the soil were above those allowed by state regulations but were isolated to the football field and didn't present any serious health concerns for students or staff who had used the area.

“At this point, we don't feel any of our staff was exposed to a health risk by using the field,” she said.

Williamson added that the samples were taken at depths from 6 to 24 inches – no toxins were found on the surface. The next step, she said, will be determining any changes that need to be made to the renovation plan.

“Obviously, it's changing some priorities – we have to address this,” she said. “I have not heard it's going to delay anything. Anytime you're renovating a 60-year-old facility, things are going to happen, and this is one of those things.”

As for the Lancers, they've got a new team song picked out.

“We'll just have to be road warriors and play Willie Nelson's 'On the Road Again' all year,” McAllister said. “I like that song.”

Zach Jones: (760) 752-6751; zach.jones@tlnews.net