Braden River-Manatee among several games postponed

Hurricane Irma’s threat to Florida shuffled this week’s high school football schedule once again.

A day after Friday’s games were moved to Thursday or canceled altogether, all-Manatee County matchups featuring Braden River at Manatee and Southeast at Lakewood Ranch were shelved for the time being.

Those two postponed games highlighted a few that were nixed from the Week 3 schedule.

Manatee County athletic director Jason Montgomery, Braden River High athletic director Matt Nesser and Manatee High athletic director Danielle LaPoint confirmed to the Herald that the Pirates-Hurricanes game was postponed. There’s no rescheduled date yet, though LaPoint said in a text message with the Herald that they will try to reschedule the game.

The reasoning for the Braden River-Manatee and Southeast-Lakewood Ranch games getting postponed is due to Irma’s sway. Evacuation of players and their families and logistical problems with traffic patterns near the schools were reasons given for the postponements.

Meanwhile, Palmetto at Sarasota Riverview was still moving ahead to a Thursday night showdown. The two sides moved their game from Friday to Thursday, and pushed the kickoff up an hour. Thursday’s game is set for 6:30 p.m. now.

The Tigers join Bradenton Christian as the lone area programs still scheduled to play Thursday. The Panthers are set to host Zephyrhills Christian at 7 p.m.

Meanwhile, other Sunshine State Athletic Conference teams such as defending champion Saint Stephen’s and Out-of-Door Academy saw their games canceled.

The Falcons game with Clearwater Calvary Christian was canceled due to Pinellas County closing schools Thursday as a result of Hurricane Irma. Saint Stephen’s athletic director Lenny Paoletti told the Herald it’s unlikely to get made up since the teams do not share a bye week.

ODA’s game with Lakeland Santa Fe Catholic was canceled. Thunder head coach Ken Sommers told the Herald it won’t be made up as it’s not a league game.

Cardinal Mooney also isn’t playing this week. The Cougars were scheduled to face Tampa Berkeley Prep, but Hillsborough County schools are closed following Irma’s threat and that meant a postponement with no makeup date as of yet, Mooney head coach Drew Lascari confirmed with the Herald.

On Tuesday, the aforementioned games, except for the Saint Stephen’s home game, were moved from Friday to Thursday.

IMG Academy and Bayshore High were the lone programs to see their games postponed prior to Wednesday’s slew of announcements.

IMG’s nationally ranked Blue team was set to face nationally ranked St. Frances (Md.) Academy on ESPNU before Irma’s threat caused travel complications for St. Frances.

The IMG White team also saw travel as an issue for Friday’s trip to Orlando West Oaks Academy.

Bayshore athletic director Chris Brady told the Herald on Tuesday evening that the Bruins game at Cape Coral Island Coast was postponed due to Lee County closing schools Thursday and Friday.

All three of those games have no makeup date as of Wednesday night.

The Florida High School Athletic Association, in response to Irma’s pending threat, released a guideline on how postponed or canceled games can affect the playoffs, which are utilizing a points system for the first time.

At-large wild-card berths are based on a points average, taking the total points earned and dividing by games played.

Executive director George Tomyn can waive the eight-game minimum requirement.

Player and student safety is paramount in the decision-making process to cancel or postpone games.

This story was originally published September 6, 2017 at 7:01 PM with the headline "Braden River-Manatee among several games postponed."