HAMLET — WIth Hurricane Dorian creeping up the eastern seaboard, Richmond County Schools superintendent Dr. Jeff Maples cancelled school for all faculty and students for Thursday, Sept. 5.
That also means that several Richmond Senior High School athletic events have been postponed as a result of the Category 2 storm that is expected to bring two inches of rain to Richmond County.
RCS made the official announcement to cancel classes just before 3 p.m. on Wednesday, but multiple sports teams made arrangements earlier in the week.
The only team that hadn’t postponed or canceled its game ahead of the school closing was the junior varsity football team. Expected to play at David W. Butler High School on Thursday in its second game of the season, the JV Raider football team will likely see its game against the Bulldogs canceled with no make up.
Per a press release from RCS, the decision on whether or not classes will resume on Friday will be made Thursday afternoon. That means the varsity Raiders’ game at home Friday against Butler is still on schedule at the time of publication. Kickoff against the No. 1-ranked Raiders (East) and No. 8 Butler (West) is set for 7:30 p.m.
Other teams impacted by the expected landfall of Dorian were the Lady Raider tennis and volleyball teams and the Raider soccer team. Following Tuesday’s match against Jack Britt High School, head tennis coach Neely Herndon said the team was postponing its matches against Hoke County (Wednesday) and Lumberton (Thursday) high schools to a later date.
The volleyball team was set to travel to Jack Britt on Thursday, and the Raider soccer team was originally slated to open Sandhills Athletic Conference play at home against Purnell Swett High School the same evening. Both of those games have been postponed to a later date that are yet to be announced.
ROSports will update this article when new dates and times are made available. Counties to the east of Richmond — including Scotland, Hoke, Lee, Robeson, and Marlboro County, South Carolina — are under a tropical storm warning.
