Mother Nature played a cruel joke on McCallie's football team over the weekend, and the result, though disagreed with by Blue Tornado fans, was a loss to start the 2015 season.
After traveling more than three hours via buses to Suwanee, Ga., the team played just two quarters against Georgia power Parkview. Because of a last-second Parkview score, the Blue Tornado found themselves behind 18-13 at halftime.
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Then the sky opened up, and rain and lightning caused game officials to cancel the final two quarters.
The one-half loss resulted also in McCallie dropping from fourth to sixth in the latest Tennessee Division II Top 10 poll.
"Obviously we are disappointed for both teams that the game could not be settled in regulation time," McCallie athletic director Jeff Romero said, "but we understand the urgency of the situation, and the safety of the players and fans comes first. As it was, we would have been lucky to restart the game before midnight."
The game was the second half of a doubleheader and didn't start until about 8:30 p.m. As players for the two teams filed back onto the field for warm-ups for the second half, they were sent back to their locker rooms and the stadium was cleared because of lightning strikes and torrential rain.
"The GHSA officials manual says that a game between schools of different classifications that is called after the first half is considered a complete game, and the team leading on the scoreboard is declared the winner," Romero added. "There is also a mandatory curfew of 11:30 p.m. unless the game is in overtime. Officials announced their decision to call the game at about 11:15."
Following the first week of action, Marion County is the area's highest-ranked Tennessee team - No. 3 in the Class 2A poll. Notre Dame is No. 4 in Class 3A. Each had a cakewalk win over the weekend.
Rhea County and Ooltewah tumbled in Class 5 after each suffered a close opening loss Rhea to Baylor and Ooltewah to Riverdale. The Eagles dropped from second to sixth and Ooltewah from fifth to eighth.
Baylor is now No. 4 in the DII poll.
There are four area teams - all from Region 3 - ranked in the Class 2A poll. Joining Marion County are No. 4 Boyd-Buchanan, No. 5 Tyner and No. 6 Meigs County.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.