Possible hurricane weather pushes local high school football games up a day

By TIM GAYLE

For the second consecutive week, high school sports has taken a backseat to the weather.

Last week, it was the remnants of Hurricane Polo that caused several games to be moved from Friday to Thursday. This week, it is Hurricane Isaias which has caused more than 90 games in the Alabama High School Athletic Association and Alabama Independent School Association to move up one day to avoid the forecasted weather for Friday.

Several schools had already planned to play on Thursday, including Stanhope Elmore vs. Julian at Cramton Bowl, Chambers Academy at Lowndes Academy, Trinity Christian at Heritage Christian, Patrician Academy at Bessemer Academy, South Choctaw Academy at Banks Academy and Macon East Academy, which will be traveling to Tennessee to play South Haven Christian.

But now, at least in central and south Alabama, most of the teams have opted to play on Thursday.

In the Capital City Conference, Catholic’s game at UMS-Wright has been changed to Thursday, along with Montgomery Academy’s homecoming against Pike Liberal Arts and St. James’ crucial region game at Prattville Christian. Trinity’s game at Westbrook Christian and Alabama Christian’s home game with Fort Dale are still set for Friday.

Park Crossing’s game at Wetumpka, Pike Road’s game at Benjamin Russell, JAG’s game at Auburn and Prattville’s home game with Oak Mountain have all been moved to Thursday.

Other Autauga County schools moving to Thursday include Billingsley’s homecoming game with Verbena and Marbury’s important region clash with Charles Henderson. Autauga Academy’s game at Valiant Cross remains on Friday.

In addition to Wetumpka, Elmore County schools moving games from Friday to Thursday include Holtville’s home game with Greenville, Elmore County’s home game with Valley and Tallassee’s home game with Beauregard.

Hooper Academy’s game at Edgewood Academy was moved to Thursday as well, one of 11 AISA games that will be played on Thursday. Five of those were originally set for Thursday. In addition to Hooper-Edgewood, Southern Prep-Abbeville Christian, Sparta-Crenshaw, Coosa Valley-Escambia, Jackson-Wilcox and Monroe-Clarke Prep were all moved up a day to Thursday at 7 p.m. Lakeside’s game with Spring Creek was canceled.

The weather has forced changes to other sports as well. Catholic’s flag football game with Spain Park will be held as scheduled on Thursday at 5 p.m., but the Knights’ volleyball match with Montgomery Academy, set for the same time, was canceled because members of the volleyball team were part of the homecoming court that will now be participating on Thursday night at McLemore Field.

Catholic rescheduled the volleyball match, set for Thursday at Catholic at 5 p.m., with Fort Dale Academy.

THURSDAY SCHEDULE

Stanhope Elmore vs. Julian (Cramton Bowl)

Park Crossing at Wetumpka

JAG at Auburn

Pike Road at Benjamin Russell

Oak Mountain at Prattville

Catholic at UMS-Wright

Beauregard at Tallassee

Greenville at Holtville

Charles Henderson at Marbury

Valley at Elmore County

Verbena at Billingsley

Pike Liberal Arts at Montgomery Academy

St. James at Prattville Christian

Hooper Academy at Edgewood Academy

Chambers Academy at Lowndes Academy

Macon East Academy at South Haven Christian (Tenn.)

FRIDAY CHANGES

Enterprise at G.W. Carver (Cramton Bowl) 5 p.m. (subject to change)