Central Conference : Both Semifinals Are Rained Out; to Play Tonight

Both Central Conference semifinal football games were postponed Friday night because of thundershowers.

The games are rescheduled for 7:30 tonight, with Pacifica playing Valencia at Bolsa Grande High School and Anaheim facing Saddleback in Glover Stadium.

At Bolsa Grande, at least an inch of water covered most of the field by 7 p.m.

Valencia had already taken the field to warm up when game officials met with representatives from both schools.

At 7:15 it was announced that the game had been rescheduled. The Valencia players immediately left the field and loaded onto buses, although Pacifica players and coaches had not yet been informed of the decision.

The Mariners waited to come out of the locker room for their pregame warm-ups and when they did, Coach Bill Craven was told that the game had been postponed.

“That’s the first I heard of it,” he said. “We’re not going to play because some water is coming down?”

Craven had talked with Don Wise, Valencia principal, in the afternoon and both decided that the game would be played.

“He (Wise) asked me what I thought and I said, ‘Let’s play,’ ” Craven said. “He came to the stadium and found out it was postponed.”

At the game site, however, Pacifica vice principal Chuck Hunter met with representatives from Valencia and game officials. He agreed to postpone the game, according to Craven.

“We stretched out in the locker room and came out to do some light contact before the game started,” Craven said. “We want to play this game.”

Hunter was unavailable for comment.

At Glover Stadium, the field was already well-soaked by 6:45 and there was about an inch of water covering most of the field at 7:30, when officials postponed the contest.

“The principals and game officials decided that the field was unsafe to play on,” Anaheim Principal Maggie Carrillo said.

Conditions were made worse when a bank of lights went out on the field’s north side.

The winners of tonight’s games will play for the Central Conference championship next Friday.