After spending most of last week gridlocked on the highway, most area high school officials returned Monday to deal with the gridlock of making up games that were postponed due to the threat of Hurricane Rita.
Today's scheduled volleyball games will be postponed, but District 23-4A teams will begin playing three games a week starting next Tuesday.
“It's going to be crazy, but everyone’s in the same boat,” said Friendswood head coach Jerry Linch, whose Mustangs will resume practice today.
Friendswood will resume their season with a trip to Santa Fe on Friday afternoon before embarking upon a schedule that will see them play Texas City on consecutive days.
Several schools around the area will have three games to make up, which will extend the three-game week.
For Linch, the time away will give his team a chance to work on fine-tuning themselves.
“We’ve been a little rusty at times, but we’re still managing to win games,” he said. “As competitive as this district is, you can’t afford to look ahead, so we’re focusing our attention toward Santa Fe.”
La Marque head coach Sarah Hogan, whose team will travel to Channelview on Friday, agreed.
“This will give us a little more practice time,” she said. “It also gives us a chance to rest some players and put new things in. We think this could be an advantage for us.”
Classes will start again Thursday, giving football teams one day to prepare for their return to the field. Friday’s games will be played as scheduled, but teams that did not play last week are still in the process of making those games up.
Texas City, which missed their game at Forest Brook, is trying to find an opponent to fill their open date.
“You would think there would be more schools in our situation, but they’re just not that many,” said Stingaree head coach Tim Finn, who was up early Monday morning searching for a team. “We have a couple of possibilities. We’ll do what we have to do to get a game in.”
With the district opener next Friday, the thought of a lengthy layoff is unsettling for Finn and a Texas City team looking to snap a four-game losing streak.
“We would love to get a game in,” Finn said. “We don’t want to go two weeks without playing a game, especially with district around the corner.”
La Marque will decide its plans for how to deal with Friday’s game against Houston Smiley. This week is homecoming for the 4-0 Cougars, who were off last week.
Gulf Greyhound Park announced Monday afternoon that it will open its doors at 11 a.m. Wednesday for simulcast racing. Live action will resume Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
The Texas City-La Marque Chamber of Commerce annual golf tournament will run from Oct. 5-6. It was originally set for Wednesday and Thursday.
