Area schools schedule football games ahead of Hurricane Ian

After dealing with the uncertainties and disruptions caused by COVID-19 for more than two years, this barely registered as a blip on the high school sports radar.

 

High schools around the Palmetto State are moving up their football games because of the effects from Hurricane Ian that are expected to hit the state later in the week. And that includes Bishop England and Philip Simmons.

 

“I’ve been watching and tracking this for three days,” Bishop England coach John Cantey said Monday night. “I started talking about it at school and the kids didn’t even know it was out there. It wasn’t on their radar. It was sort of news to them.”

 

But you never know when it comes to tropical storms and hurricanes. And when Mother Nature is the opponent, you are going to err on the side of caution. No one wants a student-athlete on a team bus late at night with torrential rains and winds howling.

 

That could have been the case for Philip Simmons, who was scheduled to travel to Beaufort Friday. Now, they will play the Eagles at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Bishop England will also play its home game at 7 p.m. Wednesday versus Timberland. 

 

 

Philip Simmons coach Eric Bendig gave his team a crash course on this week’s opponent and had a light practice on the agenda Tuesday. It wasn’t business as usual.

 

“We are creatures of habit and our habits are based on playing football on Friday nights,” Bendig said. “We learned (Sunday) this was a possibility. It doesn’t give you a lot of time to get ready, but both teams are in the same boat. We have a bye-week next week and I wanted to keep that intact, so playing Monday really wasn’t on the table.”

 

Bishop England enters the game with a 1-5 record against a winless Timberland. Cantey, obviously, would have preferred more time to get ready for the Wolves.

 

“But they run an offense that we have played against, that we have seen before,” Cantey said. “Neither team has an advantage because we have the same situation.”