BCS home games go prime time

BRADENTON — They played Saturday morning games. Then they tried Friday afternoons.

Each one under the blazing hot Florida sun.

That’s no longer the case at Bradenton Christian School, where the next step in the evolution of the Panthers football program takes center stage.

Prime time.

Yes, four beaming lights will shine down tonight as BCS opens the 2010 campaign against district foe Southwest Florida Christian.

“The reality of it is that night football at BCS gives us credibility in Manatee County,” head coach Allan Gerber said. “It really does. When you play in the afternoon, you’re thought of as one step above Pop Warner. And by flipping the lights on and being able to play at night, now we’re giving our kids (and) the BCS community the experience of Friday night lights.”

Gerber said the idea came when he first took over the Panthers program.

Now in his third season, Gerber’s wish is fulfilled.

“This is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the school, and these lights are coming at a really opportune time from a celebration standpoint,” Gerber said. “The Lord has really blessed this community, this BCS community.”

Gerber said they received donations, both monetary and in the form of supplies, to help fund the project spearheaded by Ron Cobb, who has two sons who have played for the Panthers football team.

Ron Forney, Len Najjar, Larry Pace and Ron Cobb’s son, Stuart, are just some of the people that helped Ron Cobb in constructing the four lights surrounding the Panthers home field.

Ron Cobb said the engineering was done three months ago, and they had a kickoff construction on the Fourth of July.

“We started getting all this structural still in the iron,” Cobb said. “And that one son of mine has 100-plus hours on the end of a drill motor.”

Cobb said an Alabama-based company, Diversified, has a contract with FPL and put the poles into the ground for them about two weeks ago.

Finally, on Aug. 21, the lights went up.

All that hard work has paved the way for the football team to participate in the first-ever night game at BCS’ home field.

A 7 p.m. kickoff, rather in the middle of the afternoon, also means slightly cooler temperatures to play in.

It’s something that can help the Panthers later in the season when conditioning plays a bigger role for small schools with smaller rosters.

“When you’re playing at 7 o’clock at night, the temperature does begin to come down a little bit,” Gerber said. “And you know that as the game wears on, it’s going to get cooler and it’s easier for those kids to get their legs back. In the afternoon, boy, it swelters. It’s like Saturday afternoons in college.”

Gerber, who came to BCS from the college ranks, said he was used to games under the sun.

Zack Wilkinson, Ryan Hoefling, Johnny Prince, Houston Barber and Austin Dumas represent a quintet of seniors who have grinded through varsity seasons on both Saturday mornings and Friday afternoons.

Getting a chance to show their skills on Friday nights, beginning in tonight’s district clash, could have been considered a pipe dream a four years ago.

“We started out when we were freshmen playing out at Braden River,” Wilkinson said. “We used to play out at Bulldog Field out east, and then started playing Friday afternoons one year. And one year was Saturday mornings. So now it’s our senior year, and we’re playing under the lights — it’s pretty cool.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.