High heat postpones several Central Valley Friday night football games
Delay of game was called across the Valley Friday night. Not because of any misstep on the field, but the triple-digit heat.
FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Triple-digit temperatures and and smoky air forced high school officials to delay kick-off times for football games across the Valley on Friday.
Several school districts, including Clovis Unified and Culter-Orosi, made that call days in advance to push football game start times back at least an hour.
"We started looking at the weather last week and we noticed that it was going to be extremely hot all week and so on Tuesday we made the decision to delay the start of the game because it wasn't going to be cooling down by today," said Orosi High Athletic Director Sara Vega.
The top reason for the call was the health of the students but logistics also played a part.
"The opponent we're playing is coming from Bakersfield, so there's travel that's part of it," explained Clovis High Athletic Director Jesse Hardwick.
"The flip side of that is we wait until the day of and people show up at 4:30 and all of the sudden we're not kicking off for an hour and a half later, that's probably not the best situation either."
The hope is waiting on cooler temperatures will reduce the risk of any heat related illness or injury.
American Ambulance was on standby as usual at games around the Valley in case someone did fall victim to the scorching sun.
"We'd get them in the back of the ambulance, we'd cool them off, begin an assessment. We would do some passive cooling techniques. So, let's just take off the pads. If you're wearing a sweatshirt, we're going to take that sweatshirt off, but we have ice packs in the back of the ambulance as well," said Ben Wiele with American Ambulance.
JV games notably the most impacted as those games usually start during peak heat hours.
"At the end of the day heat illness is one of those things that is 100% preventable if we take the right precautions," said Madera Unified Athletics Director Marty Bitter.
In the Valley, both games and practices were postponed all week long.
"Just this week, we pushed a few of our practices back," said Amani Sua, a Matilda Torres High football player.
Many JV games were moved to later times or even different days.
"We saw in Bakersfield, they started at 8:30 last night to make sure that they got that in. I think the main reason was they want to start the JV game probably around 6:30 make sure that got out of the heat," said CIF Central Section Commissioner Ryan Tos.
This is the first year the CIF has implemented new statewide heat policies, requiring districts to use a special thermometer called a Wet Bulb Globe.
Madera Unified is using a Perry Weather System, a device that tracks the Wet Bulb Globe temperature, air quality, and even lightning.
Coaches and staff receive hourly updates at their fingertips.
"It tells them exactly what to do if the heat index is of 87.9. We have to remove our PE. We will move all our PE back inside. If it's football and it gets into the orange and they're in the middle practice, coach will get an alert that says, 'Hey, we need to go shorts and helmets only we got to remove our full pads,'" said Bitter.
The Valley is in the third and hottest CIF category. This means that games must be moved or canceled if the thermometer has a reading at or above 92 degrees.
For many, this at first could seem low.
"People saw 92. We have to stop playing when it's 92? And some people in our area said we're not going to able to play any outdoor sports. But the Wet Bulb Globe thermometer gives a vastly different reading then what we're accustomed to in terms of Fahrenheit temperature," said Tos.
"There's a whole system in place to keep the students safe, not just shutting it down when it hits the black level of 92."
But players say they're out for the 'W' despite the heat.
"It's definitely a lot on the mental and physical aspect, but it's football and everybody's out here to enjoy it and have fun not worried about the heat too much. Just worried about making plays," says Sua.
While athletic departments and coaches schedule in plenty of water breaks and ensure there is more than enough water to go around, they're also educating students about heat illness and encouraging them to hydrate well before the game.
American Ambulance is encouraging everyone to hydrate before they go out this weekend.
They'll also be stationed at the first Fresno State home game on Saturday night as we will be facing another Accuweather heat alert.
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