When I woke up last Friday and looked out the window, I thought for sure Football Friday would be cancelled for that night. Over the past 26 years, we’ve lost shows because of the weather, but it's rare. This looked like one of those times.
The weather guys got it right -- it was a terrible day and I didn’t think anyone would play football that night, because the forecast was calling for even worse weather.
Bob Holliday got to the station early and was making calls to the schools who were on our list of 28 games to see who was or wasn’t playing.
Bob called me on my way in to work to say that it wasn’t looking good for a show. For instance, all the games for that night in Cumberland County had been postponed. Three-fourths of the games in Wake County had been called off plus all in Durham County.
When I did get to work, Bob said that there were some games that were still going to be played. Some would go on as scheduled in Wake County. Also, games would be played in Sampson, Nash, Vance, Halifax and Lee counties.
In all, we were able to come up with 11 games that we felt we would be able to cover.. Was that enough to do a 30-minute show? I thought that it was. My inclination is always to do a show when we can, and we have done playoff shows with less than that. Believe it or not, all our crews who would be out in that rainy mess wanted to do a show as well, so after consulting with various station higher-ups, the decision was made for us to go ahead.
It wasn’t the show that we originally planned, but we had a good time doing it. Our hats are off to all of the teams who braved the elements and went ahead and played. Also to our crews in the field who, just like the players and fans, got soaked but came back with some great stories and some great highlights.
We like to think on those rainy Fridays that if you play, we’ll try and be there. I’m serious -- we always want to do Football Friday, rain or shine.
This Friday is the last week of the regular season. Hard to believe, isn’t it?
Our plans at the moment are to cover 28 games involving schools from 18 counties.
Leesville Road at Wake Forest-RolesvilleGray’s Creek at South JohnstonGarner at KnightdaleGreen Hope at Athens DriveWilson Fike at Southwest EdgecombeNorthern Durham at JordanSouthern Durham at HillsideHarnett Central at TritonNorthampton East at LouisburgSouthern Vance at FranklintonSanderson at BroughtonBeddingfield at HuntSouthern Nash at Nash CentralNorthern Nash at Rocky MountC.B. Aycock at Southern WayneCedar Ridge at OrangePerson at Chapel HillBunn at Warren CountyCary at ApexHobbton at MidwayChatham Central at Jordan Matthews Fuquay-Varina at Lee CountyJames Kenan at Wallace-Rose HillSpring Creek at North DuplinHoke County at Seventy-FirstPine Forest at Terry SanfordJack Britt at Richmond CountyAlso we will cover the eight-man football game at St. David’s School in Raleigh between St. David’s and either Parrott Academy of Kinston or Rocky Mount Academy. (Trust me -- by Friday we’ll know who's playing.)
The number to call in your score is 1-888-472-9725. Don’t forget Football Friday On WRAL at 11.35 p.m. Next week, it's on to the State Playoffs.
