Noah Reed is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication student assigned to cover Veritas Prep High School for AZPreps365.com.

PHOENIX – A visionary movement to develop the sporting infrastructure at Veritas Prep is set to push game day to the next level beginning next year.

Picture a football stadium. The lights. The grandstands. The field. Those are some of the ingredients that complete the recipe for Friday night lights. Now picture a football program in one of Phoenix’s toughest regions going undefeated without many of those elements.

“Veritas had the worst infrastructure of any school,” football head coach Mike Sanfratello said. “You’ve got a field with a gas-powered generator. It's in a flood plain, so the field’s not great.

“It's just it's not a great experience on a Friday night.”

But where others may have scoffed, Sanfratello saw potential.

“We don't need two grandstands for 5,000 people,” Sanfratello said. “We need a place for 1,000 people or 500-plus people on a Friday night to come out, enjoy a great high school football game, and have a great experience.”

The process was slow, beginning six years ago after a conversation with Veritas Prep Athletic Director Chase Beebe. In the initial talks, Sanfratello challenged Beebe to see a bigger picture.

“Of course, it'd be nice to get lights and features,” Beebe said. “But, man, it's so expensive.”

Sanfratello challenged Beebe to visualize what it would take to take Veritas Prep to the next level. Sanfratello said change is doable and that Beebe had to start by believing it could be done.

“(Sanfratello’s) been by my side with all these major changes,” Beebe said. “I would like to credit him for so much of all the great things that have really been done in the past two years.

“He has just led the charge.”

The first phase was inhouse. Veritas Prep and the Great Hearts America program set the groundwork for an all-new locker room. That alone cost over $200,000.

Sanfratelo explained that phase two is outdoors, overhauling the field.

That phase kicked off in 2025 with the addition of permanent lights.

“We've been casting the vision for infrastructure,” Sanfratello said. “A capital campaign to do some things out there so that the experience on a Friday night or a soccer game at 4 o'clock in the afternoon is going to be much better.

It's super exciting to see some of that vision becoming a reality.”

The coach coined a new phrase for the improvements. 

“Beautification, we're calling it,” Sanfratello said jokingly.

This includes new concrete walkways and additional amenities. All of which still leaves room to push the boundaries and elevate the experience in Sanfratello’s eyes.

“Eventually, we're going to call the park phase three,” Sanfratello said. “A place down at the end of the stadium with grass, so that prior to the game, there could be cookouts and there could be concessions, and there can be fun.”

While these upgrades will bolster football, the ripple extends to other programs.

“When we go to other schools. Everything's super nice, and we come to our place and it's just rinky dink,” men’s soccer head coach David Zook said.

Zook said he eagerly awaits the day when the Falcons raise game day to the level of opponents. He envisions a moment in which fans can enjoy stands, a press box, lighting and sound system.

“It’ll just make it better,” Zook said.

Sanfratello is ready to see the vision through.

“When I'm done,” Sanfratello said. “I would have hoped that those three things, those goals, would be accomplished, that we invested in the people, we elevated the program and we improved the place.

“Then I can go off and sit in my rocking chair.”