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Heavy, and unexpected, rain that made its way south and east from the Pikeville area forced postponement of at least two games on the opening Friday of high school football.
Soddy-Daisy's game at Hixson was moved to 7:30 tonight and will remain at Hixson. Boyd-Buchanan's game at Red Bank also was postponed but will be moved to Finley Stadium with a kickoff at 7 tonight.
"I've had no luck with the weather," Red Bank coach E.K. Slaughter said when a bystander asked if couldn't have arranged for better weather.
Red Bank's field was still very spongy before Friday night's storms due to a Thursday afternoon storm that dumped at least an inch of rain. Field conditions caused the move to Finley, and it's a costly move. Early estimates are said to be between $1,750 and $2,000 plus responsibility for cleanup.
Other games that were known to be in or have suffered through delays were Ooltewah at Brainerd, East Hamilton at Signal Mountain and Howard at Baylor. East Ridge and Walker Valley got started, then delayed, but had resumed play, and the game also resumed at Brainerd after a lengthy delay. Baylor is the only host team in the group that has artificial turf.
The Times Free Press' Stephen Hargis said from Signal Mountain that coaches were "determined to play. Hargis quoted East Hamilton coach Ted Gatewood as saying, "I want to play and so does (Signal Mountain coach Bill Price). I'd say even if it doesn't [kick off] till midnight, we're playing."
The teams kicked off at about 9 p.m.
The game at Baylor was scheduled to resume at 9:30.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter/WardGossett.