Football Friday Is Dried Out and Ready to Roll

Well, Greg Fishel and Mike Maze and the brand new DualDoppler 5000 were right on, and Football Friday got hammered last Friday. We did get some much-needed rain, but we sure could have done without the wind. Rain, I like. wind scares the heck out of me.

By the way, this was only the fourth time since 1989 that we lost a Football Friday program to weather – and the first that wasn’t Hurricane related.

Greg told me that there might not be a lot of games played, but like a fool, I kept thinking all day that we’d have a show. Coaches and athletic directors were calling, telling us they planned on playing, plus my buddy Nick Stevens, who’s really on top of it, kept e-mailing with games that were still on.

Only Tarboro and Southwest Edgecombe had called by mid-afternoon to say they wouldn’t be playing. And we thought that was silly because it wasn’t even close to raining down there yet. They were either watching the DualDoppler 5000 closer than we were or they had an inside track with somebody special. I don’t know which it was, but the folks in Edgecombe County were pretty smart.

We sent our crews out as normal. Depending on the distance they were traveling, they left the station anywhere from 5 to 6.30. But starting about 7, I began to get the calls. Josh Hailey phoned from Enloe to say they were delayed by lightning. I said, “Well, all right head to East Wake and see what they’re doing.” A few minutes later, Ken Medlin called from Garner to say they weren’t going to play at all. I told him to head to Enloe to see if they had started playing. Mike Charbonneau phoned from Northern Nash to say it wasn’t looking good, and Mark Olexik did the same from North Johnston. It went on and on.

Jason Jennings called from Wakefield to say they weren’t going to play, and I knew we were in trouble when Wake Forest-Rolesville said they were postponing. Usually, Cougars coach Earl Smith will play no matter what the weather. Not this time.

I felt like it was election night and we were on the short end. In all, 18 of the 28 games that we planned on covering were postponed. Bob Holliday was in Robeson County and said it was fine down there and that games were going on to the south. If we had known at, say, 4 p.m. that we could come up with 10 to 12 games by redirecting our crews, we could have put something together. At at 8 or 8.30, though, there was no way – especially with everyone so scattered and the news department calling in our crews to cover the severe weather.

So, I consulted with the powers that be, who agreed: no Football Friday. I said “OK,” called it an early night and headed for the exit. There was a positive: going home when I did made the noon kickoff in Chapel Hill on Saturday a little easier to make.

This week, we hope for better weather – and I think we’ll get it. The weather guys tell me there may be a little mist or drizzle possible, but nothing like last week.

Friday night, we plan on covering with cameras at 28 games involving schools from 23 counties.

Here’s the list:

Durham Jordan at Northern Durham

Durham Hillside at Southern Durham

Carrboro at Northwood

Fuquay-Varina at Panther Creek

Sanderson at W akefield

Southeast Raleigh at Knightdale

Leesville Road at Enloe

Apex at Athens Drive

Millbrook at Broughton

Chapel Hill at Person

East Chapel Hill at Durham Riverside

Warren County at Northern Vance

Northern Nash at Southern Vance

South View at Lumberton

Cape Fear at Terry Sanford

Southern Lee at Triton

Holly Springs at West Johnston

Seventy-First at Hoke

Richmond County at Jack Britt

Southwest Edgecombe at Tarboro

Wilson Hunt at Wilson Fike

Louisburg at Roanoke Rapids

North Edgecombe at Southeast Halifax

Nash Central at Bunn

Rocky Mount at Southern Wayne

North Duplin at Hobbston

Douglas Byrd at Pinecrest

Cary at Lee Senior

As always, the best way to make sure that your score gets on Football Friday is call us. Scores can move very slowly on the wire services. Our toll free number is 1-888-472-9725.

Here’s to some football weather this week.