Hurricane Irma forces high school football games to move to Thursday

Manatee County’s School Board is taking a pre-emptive measure for this week’s high school football games with Hurricane Irma’s potential threat to Florida’s Gulf Coast this weekend.

In a news release, the school district announced four high school football games are now scheduled for Thursday.

The school district also announced all high school athletic events for Friday are canceled.

The games moved to Thursday were Braden River at Manatee, Southeast at Lakewood Ranch, Palmetto at Sarasota Riverview and Bayshore at Cape Coral Island Coast.

County athletic director Jason Montgomery also said practices for the rest of the week haven’t been decided on.

“We’re kind of at the beckon call of Irma,” Braden River athletic director Matt Nesser said.

Braden River-Manatee is a game that county football fans have clamored for the past few seasons with the Pirates rising as a consistent winning program and the tradition-rich Hurricanes fielding strong teams each year. That game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at Joe Kinnan Field at Hawkins Stadium.

“The safety of the whole state that they’re looking out for,” Nesser said. “Not just Manatee County, I think is what they’re worried about.”

Southeast at Lakewood Ranch is at 6:30 p.m., according to the Twitter account of both programs.

The decision to push those two games up fell squarely on the Manatee County school district.

The Palmetto at Sarasota Riverview and Bayshore at Cape Coral Island Coast contests meant coordinating with other county school districts.

“It’s a great idea,” Palmetto athletic director Kenny Ansbro said. “Move it to Thursday, it just makes more sense just in case we have to start evacuating at some point.”

The Tigers are coming off a historic victory, ending Manatee’s long county win streak that dated to 2006 with a 35-7 over the Hurricanes on Saturday.

This week’s altered schedule means each week this season, including the preseason Kickoff Classics on Aug. 18, featured weather-related delays.

“I’d love to see football start just a little bit later,” Ansbro said. “Even if it was a couple weeks later, then you’d have almost a month later than you normally are used to starting at. I think it would help with a lot of things. Not only with the fighting of the weather, but in terms of the heat.”

The Florida High School Athletic Association released a statement concerning Irma’s impact and how that would affect the playoff points should games get canceled:

▪ Wild-card berths into the playoffs are determined through a points average, taking the total points earned and dividing by the total games played.

▪ A minimum of eight games are required, though executive director George Tomyn can waive that requirement.

▪ Player and student safety is paramount in the decision-making process with games.

In addition to the public school changes, Bradenton Christian is scheduled to host Zephyrhills Christian Academy, while Out-of-Door Academy is hosting Lakeland Santa Fe Catholic on Thursday. Both games are scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.

IMG Academy’s nationally ranked Blue team and its White team, along with Cardinal Mooney, are still set to play Friday.

The IMG Blue team is playing Baltimore’s St. Frances Academy at 7 p.m. on ESPNU, while the White team is traveling to Orlando West Oaks Academy for a 7 p.m. start.

Cardinal Mooney hosts Tampa Berkeley Prep at 7 p.m. Friday.

Saint Stephen’s hasn’t decided on whether to keep Friday’s game against visiting Clearwater Calvary Christian as scheduled or to move it up to Thursday.

The Falcons routed IMG White, 44-0, in an early-season signature win this past Saturday.

This story was originally published September 5, 2017 at 5:17 PM with the headline "Hurricane Irma forces high school football games to move to Thursday."