Weather Forces Postponement of Football Game

Inclement weather forced the postponement of the Kennedy-Rancho Alamitos football game Friday night at Bolsa Grande High. The Garden Grove League game was rescheduled for 7:30 tonight at Bolsa Grande.

The teams were going through their pregame warm-ups a few minutes past 7 p.m. when lightning, which could be seen in the distance, began to move closer to the stadium. At 7:10, a number of sharp bolts hit near the stadium, and a steady drizzle turned to a downpour, then to hail. Suddenly, a number of the stadium lights went out.

At first, game and school officials decided to postpone the game, but they changed their minds when the lights came back on and the lightning and rain moved away. In the interim, the game doctor left the stadium for home. After a number of “Is there a doctor in the house?” requests from the public address announcer, the game was called.

It might have been a blessing for third-ranked Rancho Alamitos, which came into the game with a number of injuries to key players.

“We were flat,” Rancho Alamitos Coach Mark Miller said. “We weren’t ready to play.”

Other games around the county also were affected because of Friday’s weather. In Valencia’s homecoming against Brea-Olinda, lightning prevented the bands’ pregame show and delayed kickoff 15 minutes, and the halftime show, including the parade of floats, was curtailed.

At the Cypress College water polo tournament, lightning forced the postponement of a pool-play match between San Diego Mesa and Foothill, a tournament official said.

The teams played three quarters before officials decided to stop the match. Mesa and Foothill will play the fourth quarter today at 8 a.m.