ROCKINGHAM — Local fans will get to see high school football start a day earlier than expected.
Both the Richmond Raider football Twitter account and Richmond County Schools confirmed that the Raider varsity game is being moved to Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
Kylie McDonald, RCS’ public information officer, cited the chance for inclement weather on Friday as the reason in a district-wide phone call.
According to the National Weather Service, Rockingham is expected to get “a chance of showers, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 2 p.m.” on Friday.
The NWS also said the chance of precipitation was 70% with new rainfall amounts between a half and three-quarters of an inch possible.
Thursday’s forecast fares slightly better for the first high school football game of the year, with only a 30% chance of rain showers and thunderstorms.
“It’s what had to happen based on the information we received,” head coach Bryan Till said. “It’s not what we wanted to do, but we wanted to make sure we got the varsity game in this week.
“Of course we would’ve liked more practice time to prepare, and for our fans to have a normal game week experience on Friday night,” he added. “But we’re going to play the hand we were dealt.”
Richmond, which is scheduled to host non-conference Mount Tabor High School, is one of several teams in the state to move its game so far.
Neighboring Scotland High School, as well as North Moore High School, have also moved their Week 1 games to Thursday.
At the time of publication, Till said there has been no decision made regarding the Richmond junior varsity football team’s game at Mount Tabor on Thursday.
To purchase tickets to Thursday’s varsity football game, click here.
