Weather causes scheduling problems for some schools
Augusta Preparatory Day School athletic director Kevin Long summed up the scene for Columbia County's snowbound basketball teams.
"The weather just wreaked havoc. It was a mess," Long said of the winter storm last week that forced postponements of high school hoop contests.
Katelyn Gibbs tries to get off a shot around Laura Claffey during Augusta Prep's girls varsity practice. Schools throughout the county will be making up games that had to be canceled because of the weather last week.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Augusta Prep had to postpone its Friday home games against Trinity Christian. The Region 4-AAA teams were set to play in Dublin on Jan. 18, but now those contests will be held at Prep's Boardman Gymnasium, and Augusta Prep will travel to play Trinity on Feb. 9.
"The only open Saturday on either of our schedules was Feb. 9, and the region tournament starts on Monday (Feb. 11) at Trinity, so it works out well for both schools," Long said. "If we lose any more games because of weather, I don't know what we'd do."
Other Columbia County prep squads left in a bind were Harlem, Lakeside and Greenbrier.
Harlem postponed region games on both Friday (at Cross Creek) and Saturday (Jefferson County), while Lakeside (vs. Hephzibah) and Greenbrier (at Statesboro) postponed Friday games against region opponents.
The Columbia County school system allowed teams to play at home on Friday and Saturday, but banned travel outside of the county. Meanwhile, the Richmond County school system postponed athletic competitions Wednesday through Friday.
"We haven't even sat down and thought about (rescheduling) but it's going to be difficult," Harlem coach Kim Chambers said Friday afternoon after learning his girls and boys teams would be sidelined for the weekend.
Greenbrier rescheduled the games in Statesboro on Jan. 24. The Lakeside-Hephzibah matchups are in limbo until each school can find an open date.
"Our schedule is locked up. We have three games a week from now until the end of January," said Bill Richey, Lakeside girls coach. "Missing that game hurts. That's a region game and it has to be made up. Unfortunately, we'll probably have to play on a Thursday."
Evans was supposed to play host to Cross Creek last Wednesday, but that game also was snowed out. Evans managed to squeeze in Region 4-AAAAA action at home Friday against North Clayton.
"With the Cross Creek game being non-region, I don't know if we'll be able to make that up," Evans coach Kevin Kenny said. "After the Christmas break the schedule is so tight it's hard to make up games, so we really wanted to get in that region game (with North Clayton)."
The Evans-Lakeside game was played as scheduled Saturday at Lakeside, and Greenbrier played Burke County Saturday at the Brierpatch.
The Augusta Christian Schools hoop teams weathered the storm and did not miss any games last week. AC played host to John Milledge Academy on Friday, then traveled Saturday to play Trinity Christian.
"Those were region games, and we had to make sure we played them because we have so few dates we'd be able to play (make-up games)," said Steve Price, interim athletic director at Augusta Christian.