Home Local Sports SAC athletic directors “postpone” events this week; await NCHSAA ruling on possible...

SAC athletic directors “postpone” events this week; await NCHSAA ruling on possible extended season

A photo of RSHS' football field, taken Sunday, shows no damage from Hurricane Florence.
Photo courtesy of Kyle Pillar.

ROCKINGHAM – The eight athletic directors of the Sandhills Athletic Conference, which Richmond Senior High School is a part of, held a video conference Wednesday morning to discuss the return of high school athletics following Hurricane Florence.

While Richmond County encountered localized flash flooding and power outages over the weekend from the storm, areas such as Cumberland and Robeson counties fared far worse, suffering major damages for the second time in two years after Hurricane Matthew rolled through the area in 2016.

One of the hardest hit areas in the region was Lumberton, N.C., as Lumberton High School’s football field was almost entirely submerged in water during the peak of Florence. According to social media accounts from various SAC schools, the facilities at Purnell Swett, Richmond  and Scotland high schools sustained little to no damage from the storms.

But with the vast majority of southeastern and south central North Carolina recovering from the impacts of Hurricane Florence, the SAC athletic directors have decided to continue the hiatus of high school athletics through the rest of the week.

“We just had a video conference with the athletic directors of the Sandhills Athletic Conference and determined that all games for this week will be postponed,” RSHS athletic director Ricky Young said Wednesday afternoon. “Robeson County will be closed all week, and possibly into next week. Scotland and Cumberland counties will most likely be closed all of this week. Moore and Hoke counties hope to be in school by the end of this week.

“All of those closings mean that teams cannot practice or play, so we have agreed to meet again Monday morning (Sept. 24) to try to sort out schedules,” he continued. “Hopefully by that time we will have a better idea of the plans of each school system and if the NCHSAA will be extending the regular season. We will have to try and make up the conference games. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the many families in all of the areas that have been devastated by flooding from Hurricane Florence.”

Since Richmond County Schools superintendent Dr. Cindy Goodman cancelled all RCS extracurriculars, including athletics, last Wednesday, no RSHS program has been able to practice. But all of that will change Wednesday afternoon with RCS reopening its doors to all students and faculty after nearly a week off.

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Verified at the time of this publication, the Richmond football, soccer, tennis and volleyball programs will be back on their respective playing surfaces for practice Wednesday afternoon.

The biggest question mark that remains from the SAC meeting is whether or not games from the last week and a half will be made up. The North Carolina High School Athletic Association still hasn’t made an explicit decision on whether or not the fall sports season will be extended as a result from Florence.

However, the NCHSAA did release a statement Wednesday morning addressing high school football, perhaps the most affected program from the storm.

“Schools that have missed football practice for five or more consecutive school days must practice a minimum of three days, wearing equipment, prior to resuming competition,” the NCHSAA memo read. “As many football student-athletes have been unable to undergo physical activity… these mandatory practice days should be used to re-acclimatize the student-athletes to wearing equipment.”

The press release also acknowledged the Association is “studying ways to adjust the playoffs and will make recommendations to the Board of Directors no later than Sept. 30, 2018.” The NCHSAA is encouraging football programs to makeup missed games during their bye week, but for programs like Richmond and Scotland high schools, that plan isn’t feasible as their respective bye weeks have already passed.

Raider head football coach Bryan Till and his players haven’t played in a game since Friday, Sept. 7, at Butler High School, a 30-19 win. In the week leading up to Florence, the Raiders took their bye week, and were schedule to play Purnell Swett this Friday, but has since been postponed for a date to be decided upon later.

The SAC athletic directors will meet again Monday to discuss rescheduling missed games and matches, with the emphasis being on playing SAC contests first. The ROSports team will provide updates as they become available.

 



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Kyle Pillar is a 22-time North Carolina Press Association award-winning sports editor with The Richmond Observer. Follow the sports department on X @ROSports_ for the best in-depth coverage of Richmond County sports.