The team also will likely apply for a zoning permit to put up lights for night practices. The plans would be unveiled before the Zoning Commission Sept 12.

"We've been getting ready," said Carol Hickcox, president of Nonnewaug Chiefs Pop Warner Inc. "We want to put a foundation to make sure the goal posts are safe enough."

The local youth football association got permission Aug. 14 from the Region 14 Board of Education's Facilities Committee to have games and lighted practices at the school's field.

The board approved a proposal for goal posts, along with an announcer, concessions trailers, bleachers, portable toilets, a portable irrigation system and garbage collection. The team also got a certificate for concessions through the Pomperaug District Department of Health, Hickcox said.

But Hickcox learned last week that she would have to give the Zoning Commission an engineered lighting site plan before the club could install temporary electric lights.

The approximately 200-member club has been practicing on the field since Aug. 1, and will use it for three to four home games this fall, Hickcox said.

Safety lights would be used for evening practices three days a week, and would be shut off by 8:30 p.m. The lights will not be used for games.

Last year, the team played at Hollow Park, but practiced at the Mitchell School field with temporary generator-operated lights that caused smell and noise. That's why they decided to try for temporary electric lights this year.

"There's still that misconception out there that we're doing some kind of stadium," Hickcox said. "It's really just a football field for the kids to play on. I think some of the neighbors are concerned that we're going to put up stadium lighting."

If approved, four temporary light stanchions would likely be placed near the four corners of the field. The team wants two hour practices that would last until at least 7:30 p.m. and Hickcox said she thinks the lights are important because it will be very dark later in the season when younger players come off the fields to go to the parking lot.

But if the Zoning Commission does not approve the proposal Sept. 12, or postpones the decision until after a hearing the following month, the team likely can't practice on the field this year. Without zoning approval for lights, players would have to find a new practice spot.

"I just can't believe that something that's so good for so many kids would create such a problem on a school playground," Hickcox said. "You're just trying to keep these kids safe and nobody wants us. We're a sport without a home."

Regardless, she said, the goal posts should be up by Saturday, when the youth football and cheerleading club will host a jamboree for 10-year-old players from other teams.