Outages, fires add twist to NCS skeds
In the wake of continued Pacific Gas and Electric Co. power outages and poor air quality caused by the Kincade Fire, the North Coast Section on Wednesday morning announced that its schools have the option of extending the football season by a week.
“This will allow schools to play their final regularseason game, many of which are rivalry games or league championships, and still give the North Coast Section three playable weekends to complete the playoffs and determine champions,” NCS Commissioner Pat Cruickshank said in a statement.
“Decisions like this are never easy, but it is our hope that this will give schools some breathing room.”
As of Wednesday morning, the Kincade Fire, which started Oct. 23, had burned more than 76,800 acres, forced the evacuation of 185,000 from their homes and blanketed much of the North Bay in smoke.
In addition, 88% of Sonoma County (and 5% of Marin County) was without electricity after PG&E turned off the power to prevent high winds from triggering additional fires.
The decision to play is on a casebycase basis. NCS rules bar any athletic events from being played when the Air Quality Index reaches 150. According to Cruickshank, the AQI in Santa Rosa on Wednesday morning was at 51, but it was forecast to jump to 101150 on Thursday and 201300 on Friday and Saturday.
“We have all been affected in some way over the past week by the recent events associated with the Kincade Fire and the PG&E power outages,” the statement said. “Towns and areas have evacuated, homes have been lost, large parts of our region have little or no power, and the air quality continues to diminish.”
The NCS includes 155 high schools in a farflung region that stretches from Fremont in the south to Brentwood in the east and north to Crescent City.
The oneweek extension means that the last possible date for completion of the regular season is Nov. 9. The playoffseeding meeting is scheduled for Nov. 10, with the first round of section playoff games set for Nov. 1516.
Semifinals will be played Nov. 2223, NCS title games Nov. 2920 and NorCal games Dec. 67. State championship games will be played Dec. 1314.
Earlier this week, the NCS had decided to delay the girls section golf tournament for two days (to Wednesday) and move it from Rohnert Park in the North Bay to Antioch. The AQI in Antioch as the tournament began was 5.
The section said in the statement that it does not anticipate any delays or extensions being needed for its fall soccer and waterpolo regular seasons, which will end Saturday. Michael Lerseth is a San Francisco Chronicle assistant sports editor. Email: mlerseth@sfchronicle.com Twitter @MikeLerseth