Georgia High School Association football coordinator and assistant executive director Jay Russell says he expects between 75-100 games to be officially postponed from Friday because of Hurricane Helene, with potentially more on the way involving schools waiting to make final decisions Friday on games still scheduled that night.
Russell acknowledges this has been one of the more hectic weeks for him that he can remember.
“I have been inundated,” he said. “Between calls and texts, I’ve gotten over 100 at least. Yesterday things just kind of got crazy. It’s been organized pandemonium so to speak. It’s part of the job. We can’t control the weather. Our people (member schools) have done for the most part a really good job of communicating with each other and rescheduling games and securing officials.”
Russell sent out an email Wednesday to all football contacts and athletic directors reminding them of procedures for postponing games.
Schools do not have to notify the GHSA immediately of a postponed game unless it is moved to another week, so the GHSA does not have a full list of changes, though Russell said he hoped to have one compiled by Friday.
Games moved to Monday must receive GHSA permission because of a bylaw that prevents playing two games in one week. The GHSA can waive the requirement on a case-by-case basis.
Russell said his main concern has been ensuring that officials can staff all the makeups.
“When I coached, I was more nervous about officials showing up than the actual game itself,” Russell said. “We are emphasizing great communication between the schools and the officials. The schools know when they’re playing, but there’s a third party involved, the officials, so that’s a pet peeve of mine.”
The GHSA has 24 officials associations that are assigned games, but individual officials are not full-time employees who are required to cover postponed games. So the associations often scramble to find coverage for rescheduled games, and schools’ choices of dates and times are influenced by officials’ availability. For each varsity game, six officials work the field and two work the game and play clocks.
Russell also spoke of the bigger picture, which is the potential for hurricane damage to schools, neighborhoods and businesses.
“Football is pretty minor in the context of a potential hurricane coming up all the way through Atlanta,” Russell said. “We just want people to be safe and for our schools to come through this as unscathed as possible. It’s our prayers to everyone that this storm won’t be catastrophic.”
