Hurricane Hanna has already made an impact on the T&D region before its anticipated arrival.

As of Tuesday night, several region schools had either decided or said they would decide Tuesday if and when they will hold their Week 2 contests based on the hurricane’s projected path.

Calhoun County and Edisto, who were originally slated to play against each other on Friday, are among several schools in the state that will now play one day earlier when they face off in St. Matthews Thursday.

“It’s rough,” Saints head coach Walter Wilson said, “but we just have to modify some things a little bit because you’ve got to use a day before the game as a walkthrough. This won’t be a walkthrough. It’ll be a kind of extended walkthrough.”

Despite losing a day of preparation, both coaches believe that their players will be ready to go.

“They found out about (the decision Tuesday afternoon),” Cougars head coach Andy Palmer said, “and they were mostly energetic about it. They understand that Calhoun County is a real good football team and they know they have their work cut out for them and they’ve got two days. They want to be ready to go. So, they’re willing to put in the work.”

Having little time to prepare isn’t new to the Cougars. They had the privilege of playing in Week Zero this year against Bamberg-Ehrhardt. However, Palmer doesn’t believe that is going to give them much of an edge.

“The only advantage it gives us is that we’ve played two games and they’ve played one,” he said. “We’ve had to (play on Week Zero) a couple times in a row. So, hopefully, we’ll have a little more ease into getting ready for something real quick.”

While the players are under some pressure to get as much as they can accomplished before Thursday, coaches are not under as much pressure.

“We’ve got to get the kids ready,” Wilson said. “We know what we want to do already anyway. That’s why you meet on Sunday. It doesn’t really impact that much because you put in what you’re going to do on Monday and Tuesday anyway. On Wednesday, you sharpen it up and that’s what we’re going to do (today) anyway.”

Playing Thursday was really the best option for both teams. Neither Wilson nor Palmer wanted to push the game back to Monday and force their teams to play two games in one week.

“Nobody likes to work on a short week,” Palmer said. “Monday to Friday is very short. You normally give players Saturday and Sunday off to heal after a game. If you play on Monday and Friday, then Tuesday’s pretty shot because you’re pretty beat up and sore. Then, you get Wednesday and Thursday. Then, you play. So, Monday-Fridays are not real good.”

While Calhoun County and Edisto are officially scheduled for Thursday, most schools in the T&D region will use today to decide if and when they will play this week.

Games Scheduled for Thursday in T&D Region

Edisto @ Calhoun County

Woodland @ Lake Marion

Bethune-Bowman @ W.J. Keenan

Teams awaiting decision on rescheduling

Orangeburg-Wilkinson (@ Colleton County)

North (@ Swansea)

Orangeburg Prep (vs. Hammond)

Calhoun Academy (vs. W.W. King)

Holly Hill Academy (@ Clarendon Hall)

Andrew Jackson (@ St. John’s Christian)

Bowman Academy (@ Long Cane Academy)

Allendale-Fairfax (@ Hunter-Kinard-Tyler)

Teams that are scheduled to play Friday

Denmark-Olar vs. Williston-Elko

Blackville-Hilda vs. Barnwell

Jefferson Davis vs. St. Paul’s Academy

All games are scheduled for 7:30 p.m.T&D Sports Writer Emery Glover can be reached by e-mail at eglover@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5532. Check out his blog, Cover 2, at www.TheTandD.com.

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