High school football is on the backburner for most of the Gulf Coast right now after Hurricane Sally tore a path of destruction through the area early Wednesday morning.
All football games in Baldwin County are canceled this week. County Athletic Director Marty McRae said there is not a timetable to resume just yet.
“The county is a mess, especially the south part of it,” McRae said. “Most of us may not get power back for a few days at least.”
The canceled games – all region games – are Baldwin County at Spanish Fort, Davidson at Fairhope, Foley at Daphne, Robertsdale at Gulf Shores and B.C. Rain at Elberta.
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Foley was one of the area’s hardest hit by Sally. Lions head coach Deric Scott was on his way to survey the damage Thursday afternoon.
“Football is not the priority right now,” Scott said. “We are in the process at this point of just making sure everyone is OK. We are doing a head count on our kids and seeing if we can help them or assist them in any way. That is our main priority. We will move from there to a mindset of cleanup and then eventually back to the business of football. But right now, I don’t even know when that conversation starts.”
Orange Beach was not scheduled to play Friday. The Makos were scheduled to play Greene County originally, but the Tigers opted out of the season due to COVID-19 concerns. Orange Beach coach Chase Smith, who lives in Daphne, said he had only heard reports of the damage around Orange Beach at this point.
“I’ll probably go down Saturday,” he said. "I haven’t been on the road yet. It’s hard to get anywhere at this point. I spoke to some folks with the city. Obviously, it’s bad. My crew actually feels like our playing surface is OK. We would hope to be able to play next week (against Red Level).
“But we’ll just have to see what the county wants to do. Obviously, the biggest question will be the debris and whether or not power has returned at that point. It depends on how fast we get back to some sense of normalcy. I guess it’s just one more crazy thing in this crazy year. We just all have to do what we can.”
The timetable for next week is in question as both Gulf Shores and Orange Beach are closed to visitors for cleanup for the next 10 days.
Elberta coach Nathan McDaniel and the Warriors were scheduled to host B.C. Rain in a 5A, Region 1 game. McDaniel said the school and stadium had minimal damage, but he was more concerned about the community than anything.
“A lot of Elberta families sustained a lot of damage to their house and property,” he said. “I think everyone is OK, but the damage is widespread. I think the key thing right now is helping everyone get back on their feet. Whatever it takes to do that is what we will do. Football has to take a back seat.”
With less damage and power outages in Mobile County, most teams there will play their Week 5 games, though the schedule has changed significantly. Theodore will play Murphy at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in one of the few remaining Friday night games. The Saraland vs. Blount game, originally scheduled for Thursday at Ladd, will be played at 11 a.m. Saturday instead.
“We inspected the stadium today and didn’t see any real damage,” Ladd-Peebles Stadium manager Vic Knight said. “We tested everything. It all appeared to be in working order. We should be good to go for Friday night and Saturday morning.”
Here is how the revamped Mobile/Baldwin/Coastal schedule looks for Week 5:
FRIDAY
Leroy at Thomasville, 7 p.m.
Theodore at Murphy (Ladd), 7 p.m.
Selma at Jackson, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY
Saraland at Blount (Ladd), 11 a.m.
McGill-Toolen at Citronelle, 2 p.m.
Flomaton at Chickasaw, 2:30 p.m.
St. Paul’s at Faith Academy, 4 p.m.
Vigor at Mobile Christian, 5 p.m.
LeFlore at Satsuma, 7 p.m.
Mary G. Montgomery at Baker, 7 p.m.
MONDAY
Bayside Academy at T.R. Miller, 6 p.m.
St. Michael at Escambia County, 6 p.m.
Williamson at W.S. Neal, 6 p.m.
Clarke County at St. Luke’s, 7 p.m.
CANCELED OR POSTPONED
No makeup date set yet
Baldwin County at Spanish Fort
B.C. Rain at Elberta
Davidson at Fairhope
Foley at Daphne
Lighthouse, Fla., at Cottage Hill (canceled, no makeup)
Robertsdale at Gulf Shores