The official track of Hurricane Hermine will show that the storm made landfall in the Big Bend area, but it surely managed to leave its mark on Hernando County.
It washed out four days’ worth of prep athletic events and practices, including the entire Week 2 football schedule.
Four games, all non-district, were on the slate, most notably a meeting of county rivals Springstead and Hernando. Though the sun finally poked its head out as skies cleared in the county on Saturday, the prior deluge left fields at Ridgewood, Nature Coast and Hernando unplayable.
Thus the Springstead-Hernando game, as well as Hudson at Nature Coast and Central at Ridgewood, having already been pushed back from the typical Friday night slot, ended up getting canceled.
Weeki Wachee’s game at Belleview, initially rescheduled for Saturday, was called off on Thursday, as Hornets head coach Mark Lee cited not having even seen his players for three days with no practice.
Because none of the games have postseason implications, no makeups are required nor anticipated. That means for the first time since 1977, the Eagles and Leopards will not play one another.
As for Nature Coast, head coach Justin Worden noted that a meeting with Hudson could have been a potential playoff preview, and that it was disappointing to lose a game off the schedule.
“Especially when you get backlash, where it’s, ‘You guys don’t want to play,’ when it wasn’t in our hands,” said Worden, who had not seen the field on Saturday and had no input on the cancelation. “We respect the decision that was made from above and all we can do is follow the directions given.”
Like all local teams, the Sharks lost almost an entire week of practice, as well. Worden said the plan was to work on an option drill in preparation for a matchup with Springstead this coming Friday.
There’s a chance any of the county teams could add a game to their schedule in place of their original bye weeks. Lee said he would attempt to find an opponent for Week 4, when the Hornets have an open Friday.
Other coaches were unsure if that they would take that step. Worden indicated that since Nature Coast has a bye in Week 11, the final week of the regular season, it was unlikely. Hernando has the same bye week, while Central’s is in Week 10. Springstead has a bye in Week 6.
With the storm forcing all sports into cancelations from Wednesday on, there were very few events that actually took place this week.
In volleyball, Weeki Wachee improved to 2-2 with a 23-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-20 win over host Springstead (0-2) on Tuesday. That same night, Hernando (3-0) defeated Citrus, 25-22, 25-18, 19-25, 25-18.
The Lecanto Invitational cross country meet on Saturday was canceled due to debris on the course. Saturday’s swim meet at the county’s YMCA between Nature Coast and Springstead was postponed until Oct. 15.
Follow Chris Bernhardt Jr. on Twitter @cpbernhardtjr.