Weather playing havoc with teams’ schedules

Postponed games have athletic directors scrambling

1/28/2014

Axe

Extreme winter weather conditions have delivered plenty of snow and frigid temperatures to northwest Ohio that have created the blues for area high school athletic directors and coaches.

The record snowfall that has blanketed the area, along with temperatures regularly dipping into single digits and even below zero, have forced plenty of high school sporting events to get postponed or canceled.

With time running out on the winter sports calendar, athletic directors are scrambling to find makeup dates to allow for teams to complete regular-season schedules.

In 29 years working as Central Catholic athletic director, Bill Axe doesn’t recall a season like this one, where so many events throughout the area have been called off due to weather.

“This is at a catastrophic level in terms of cancellations,” Axe said.

Bowsher athletic director Terry Reeves and the rest of the City League schools’ athletic directors met early Monday for a breakfast meeting to discuss rescheduling of games that have been previously postponed.

Among Bowsher’s rescheduling plans include the boys basketball teams playing Rogers at home on Sunday — the same day as the Super Bowl. A freshman game is scheduled to tip off at 9 a.m., followed by the junior varsity at 10:30, and the varsity at noon. The games between those two schools have been postponed twice this season.

“We haven’t had any season like this that I can remember,” Reeves said. “It’s been really challenging overall.”

The winter sports season includes girls and boys basketball, bowling, gymnastics, ice hockey, swimming and diving, and wrestling. All of these sports schedules have been affected one way or another due to the weather.

Axe said the weather issues have him concerned about more than potential makeup dates for teams.

Central is scheduled to host a Division II team wrestling duals tournament Wednesday involving four teams. The event will occupy the home gym, which otherwise would have been available for Irish teams to makeup games.

“There are obvious elements there, especially after the middle of the season your chances and dates to reschedule decrease significantly,” Axe said.

Northview athletic director Chris Irwin said the ADs in the Northern Lakes League have also been able to reschedule games. The doors to Sylvania schools have been shut this winter seven days.

Irwin said the scheduled NLL wrestling championships Saturday could end up as the sole determining factor for the league championship if all of the league dual meets aren’t completed before the tournament. The NLL champion is normally decided based upon a points system involving dual meets and league results.

Any cancellations of dual meets this week before the tournament would probably lead to naming the champion on the merits the tournament.

“We’re running out of dates [to reschedule], and it’s becoming more challenging as the season goes by,” Irwin said.

Irwin said the working relationship among the NLL officials has made what could be a difficult time less much easier.

“The key is communication, and everyone works well together,” Irwin said.

St. Francis de Sales AD Carl Janke said only the winter of 1978-79 evokes any comparison to this season.

Janke said the Knights’ teams have been able to get through most of this season without much of a scheduling hitch. A freshman boys basketball game was canceled, and the wrestling team planned on competing at Anthony Wayne in a tournament that was canceled.

Despite St. Francis’ good fortunes, Janke is aware of the dilemmas athletic directors and coaches have been faced with at other schools.

“It’s difficult but everybody works together as coaches and athletic directors,” Janke said, “because there are some things you just can’t control, and weather is one of them.”

Contact Donald Emmons at:

demmons@theblade.com,

419-724-6302, or on

Twitter @DemmonsBlade.