With Hurricane Milton barreling toward Florida, Columbia is in standby mode.
The Tigers’ District 3-4A contest against Ridgeview set for this Friday at Tiger Stadium is currently on as scheduled, but that’s dependent on how much damage Milton causes in Columbia and Clay counties. Columbia and Clay both canceled school Wednesday and Thursday, but if schools are able to resume classes Friday, then the game will be on that night. If not, Columbia head coach Brian Allen says they’ll shoot to play on Monday, Oct. 14.
The game must be played because it’s a district contest. Columbia and Clay are just one of a few nearby counties that have canceled school Wednesday and Thursday, including Putnam, Nassau and Alachua, while Duval, St. Johns and Flagler counties canceled school Wednesday through Friday.
Milton intensified quickly Monday and Tuesday over the eastern Gulf of Mexico and was a Category 5 storm with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph as of 5 p.m. Tuesday. It’s expected to make landfall in the Tampa Bay region possibly as early as Wednesday night and then trek east-northeast.
“I know if we get any type of wind, there’s going to be no power here and games aren’t going to be played potentially,” Allen said. “And I don’t know how bad they’ll be over there…I really don’t foresee it happening (Friday). Now I hope I’m pleasantly surprised, but I don’t foresee us playing it Friday. But we will continue to prepare as if because if you do it on Monday, we have to be prepared.”
Allen said Columbia offered to play the game Tuesday, but when the Clay County School District canceled school Wednesday and Thursday it also canceled extracurricular activities after 7 p.m. Tuesday. A game Monday wouldn’t be too detrimental to the Tigers, who have a bye week next Oct. 18.
“The game plan was to try and get this thing done (Tuesday). With the forecast being whatever it may be, we wanted to get it done as early as possible. And they were all on board with trying to do it (Tuesday) here, but all school activities after 7 have been suspended so the game plan now is to continue for Friday here on a normal schedule. If it can’t happen, then Monday we’ll play the game on our bye week.”
If Columbia is forced the play next Monday, it wouldn’t be the first time this season that a hurricane has affected its district schedule. When Hurricane Helene came through two weeks ago, the Tigers were forced to play St. Augustine two nights earlier on Wednesday and it resulted in a 27-6 loss.
It’s also the second straight season a hurricane has disrupted Columbia’s schedule. Hurricane Idalia postponed last year’s game against Union County and it was never made up.
“You gotta keep rolling, no matter what,” Allen said. “I guess the good thing is (next week) is a bye week for us, so if it is Monday it’s not really affecting our guys. We can be rested and get our guys back healed from injuries. It’s just definitely different. Last year it was Week 2 or Week 3 that this was going on with a storm, and now it’s waited until Week 7 and 8 this year to start affecting us. We’ve just got to improvise.”