By Jeff Johncox
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In Oklahoma, we've become accustomed to thunderstorms. We usually know when they mean business or when their bark is worse than their bite.
Mother Nature sure had her way with Norman football last week. But some new regulations played their part, too.
Those at Harve Collins Field last Thursday for Norman High-Del City will tell you how the rain foiled a couple of the Eagles' early drives, the ball so hard to handle. The Tiger defense did a nice job, too, helping to create four turnovers.
But the Tigers and Eagles had to wait a while to get out on the field. The start of the game was delayed over a half hour thanks to lightning.
A night later, on the same field, Norman North took an early 10-0 lead on Muskogee before the contest was halted, again because of lightning, not ever to resume.
Meanwhile, in Purcell, the Dragons took on visiting Washington and played through the heavy rain and surrounding lightning.
What happened?
Well, rules change.
The National Federation of State High School Associations and the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association have both tweaked their rules regarding lightning in the past few years.
The rule is even stricter, this year, according to Norman Public Schools athletics director Frank Thompson.
"This year, the federation rules for officials says that if they can see or hear lightning, they have to stop the game and take the players off the field," Thompson said.
Clearly, over at Purcell, the lightning rules weren't being interpreted very strictly.
As the Tigers and Eagles got ready for kickoff, there was rain but no lightning around The Harve. Once the lightning showed, it was cloud-to-cloud, and sporadic.
During the T-Wolves' meeting with the Roughers, lightning was about an hour away when it became visible south of Norman. But it was enough to cause an hour delay before administrators decided to call the game.
Norman, like many schools, uses a weather technology system to gauge the location of lightning strikes and their proximity to the field. Last Friday, officials and administrators were also in contact with the National Weather Service. While it was cloudy with nothing happening at the Harve, it was pouring rain with heavy lightning at Owen Field.
So after that hour delay, the call was made to end everyone's night.
More thunderstorms were in the forecast for Saturday, though in retrospect, it's likely North and Muskogee could have resumed play since it ended up being a quiet but wet day.
Sitting on cold metal bleachers, fans aren't very fond of delays.
Part of the frustration is because officials don't normally stay in contact with the fans. During the North-Muskogee game, an announcement was made that the situation would be re-evalutated 40 minutes after the initial delay began at 8:08 p.m. But it wasn't until 9:10 that fans learned what was going on. That's why the North student section got antsy around 8:50, chanting "Let them play," stealing a line from an old Bad News Bears movie.
Officials may not have thought to announce something like, "We're still evaluating the weather information," but it probably would have helped.
There were murmers among the crowd that in "my day, they played through a thunderstorm." Football players are supposed to be tough, right?
When it comes to high-school athletes, no one wants to see an on-field injury, much less a potentially fatal lightning strike.
Safety is up to the officials, coaches and adminstrators.
There hasn't been a lightning strike incident at an Oklahoma high school in years, but there's been one in Georgia recently.
On Aug. 12, a 14-year-old Pinewood Christian football player was hit by lightning in Savannah while running around the track during practice. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
No matter how frustrating delays and cancellations can be for players, coaches and fans, all have to understand it's about safety.
Jeff Johncox 366-3535 jjohncox@normantranscript.com
