The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
WEATHER WINS
Chardon’s Memorial Field sits empty and rain soaked after the Hilltoppers’ Division III playoff game against visiting Geneva on Oct. 23 was postponed by storms. The game will be played at noon today. For other postponements, check Sports beginning
Chardon coach Mitch Hewitt could do little more than shrug his shoulders and tip his cap to an already crazy calendar year.
As lightning lit up the sky around Chardon’s Memorial Field for nearly three hours, the Hilltoppers’ Division III regional quarterfinal against visiting Geneva was postponed Oct. 23.
Chardon (7-0) and Geneva (7-1) will instead play at noon Oct. 24.
“What a year, man,” Hewitt said with a sigh. “I used to think 2020 was its own chapter. Now I’m pretty sure it’s a book.”
The game was originally slated to start at 7 p.m., but was moved up for a 6:45 p.m. start because officials expected the sweeping cold front that was cutting through Ohio to potentially cause delays.
The cold front and its accompanying storms arrived early. By 6:25 p.m., lightning had already been spotted in the northwest, causing officials to send teams indoors.
By 7:30, an announcement was made that the game was pushed back to a 9 p.m. start to let the storms pass through. But shortly before 9 p.m., the game was pushed back to Oct. 24.
“We tried to wait it out, but time was working against us,” Chardon athletic director Doug Snyder said. “We’ll postpone until tomorrow.”
The noon starting time was unique because Chardon had earlier this week agreed to let Kirtland use Memorial Field for its D-V regional quarterfinal against visiting Sandy Valley.
“We wanted to honor that commitment,” Snyder said, “so we’re going to play at noon.”
Whoever wins will have more time to prepare for next week’s game. We wanted to play as early as we could.”
Hewitt agreed, saying, “We wouldn’t want to play the game that late (7 p.m.) anyway.”
As players from Geneva filtered out of the junior high gymnasium on the west side of the stadium, where the players were housed during the lightning storm, senior quarterback and captain Ben Scibona said his team won’t be rattled by the postponement.
“We’re all excited to come back tomorrow,” Scibona said. “We’ll be fresh in the morning and hope to play
a good game. We’ve never done this before (i.e. have a game postponed right before kickoff). Emotions were high tonight. We’ll have to bring back that intensity tomorrow morning.”
Geneva coach Chip Sorber said the noon kickoff will have a junior varsity game feel to it because of the early start, though much more rides on it. The winner advances to a re
gional semifinal next weekend to play New Philadelphia, a 38-17 winner over Aurora on Oct. 23.
“You can’t mess with Mother Nature,” Sorber said. “She’s definitely the boss. Winners adjust.”
Chardon’s players were talking about that same adjustment as they walked out to their cars among the falling raindrops.
“It’s 2020 — you can’t ex
pect anything (normal),” Hewitt said. “I think out of all the teams in Chardon history, we’re the best at adapting. We’ll be good and ready at noon, for sure.”
Other games from The News-Herald coverage area affected by the storms are:
• Mentor, whose Division I, Region 1 semifinal against Brunswick was rescheduled for 1 p.m. Oct. 24 at Jerome T. Osborne Stadium.
• Benedictine, whose Division II, Region 5 quarterfinal against Walsh Jesuit was rescheduled for 7 p.m. on Oct. 24 at Euclid Community Stadium.
• Harvey, whose regularseason game against visiting Berkshire was rescheduled or noon on Oct. 24; and
• NDCL’s regular-season game at Lakeside, which was rescheduled for Oct. 24 at 7 p.m.