After waiting out a two hour lightning delay, game officials postponed the District 1B-6 opener between Out-of-Door Academy and St. John Neumann.
A makeup date will be announced on Saturday.
The teams were on the field for pre-game warmups at 7:15 when lightning was first spotted in the area.  The players were sent to the locker rooms before a torrential downpour started around 7:30.  After the rain subsided, officials deemed the field was playable. But at 9:30, with lightning still flashing around the field, the referees decided to call it a night.
Neumann coach Steve Howey said the decision was probably for the best.  “Both teams wanted to get the game in tonight, but after two hours of sitting around, it’s tough to get your team back up and ready to play, and it’s a very important game,” Howey said.
“You worry about safety,” said ODA coach Brett Timmons, “It’s been a long day for our kids.  But then again, it’s a district game, and we already came down here, so we wanted to try to get it in.”
“It’s probably six of one, a half dozen of the other,” said Timmons of the postponement. “The kids were excited, they were ready to go.”
The teams explored the option of playing on Saturday, but the Neumann field is used by Pop Warner teams on Saturday afternoon, and several ODA players had prior commitments for Saturday night, so the game will have to be made up either Monday or Tuesday.  The Thunder have a bye week next Friday, but the Celtics are set to take on Palmer Trinity.
“We’ll have a short week,” said Howey, “But it’s not a district game, so that’s not a concern.  Maybe Palmer Trinity will be okay with playing on Saturday and we can reschedule that one, just to give ourselves another day.”

– Bruce Robins

Palmetto Ridge led Estero 13-0 with 8:04 remaining in the second quarter before a lightning strike forced both teams off the field at approx. 8:15 p.m. Friday night.
The teams were sent to the locker rooms for about one hour and 45 minutes.
The teams were back on the field and warming up at approx. 10 p.m. when lightning struck in very close vicinity to Estero High causing the referees to postpone the game for the night.
The game will continue today at 11 a.m.
“Every 20 minutes there was one bolt,” Estero coach Rich Dombroski said of the delay. “It may be a little bit of a godsend. We have to make some adjustments on defense.”
Palmetto Ridge junior running back Bobby Dehnz scored both of the Bears’ touchdowns. The first came on a 5-yard run and the second came on a run from 32 yards out.
Dehnz had 112 yards rushing on 10 carries before the game was postponed.
Dombroski said he would be working late Friday night to fix some things defensively before the 11 a.m. kickoff.
“We looked like we didn’t practice anything all week on defense,” Dombroski said.
–Carl Bleich

East Lee QB Dakota Curran left Friday night’s game late in the fourth quarter with a wrist injury.

East Lee coach Scott Jones said he was told it was broken. Curran will go for X-rays to confirm. The injury happened on a scramble after a blocked punt.

Gateway WR Delano Howell suffered what appears to be a leg injury. Waiting for paramedics to arrive at Dunbar High. There’s :10 left in the first quarter.

Due to a threat of not having enough referees for a potnetial continuation tomorrow, Dunbar and Gateway are back on the field at 10:30 p.m. There are 52 seconds left in the first quarter.

The game has been rescheduled to 10 a.m. Saturday at Edison Stadium.

Barron Collier looking at 9:35 kickoff agianst Lehigh. Gulf Coast should be under way in minutes.

Games at Fort Myers and Barron Collier are now hoping for a 9:30 p.m. kicoffs

Players are on the field at Gulf Coast vs. Immokalee. May be a go by 9:15.

Florida Christian vs. South Florida Prep is postponed until 11 a.m. Saturday.

Palmetto Ridge at Estero has been in a lighning delay since 8:15 p.m. with Palmetto Ridge up 13-0 with 8:04 to go before halftime. Lighting strikes coming every two minutes. The coaches are going to wait until 9:30 p.m. and then explore their options.