Tuscaloosa City Schools push back kick offs to avoid heat

Tuscaloosa, Ala. (WBRC) - Scorching hot weather is affecting almost everything this week, including high school football.

While the games will be played as planned, kickoff times are being pushed back in many school districts like Tuscaloosa City Schools. One could call it a weather delay, even though there is no rain in the forecast.

School administrators wanted to protect players, fans, and others from triple digit temperatures being experienced across Alabama.

All three Tuscaloosa City high schools, Central, Northridge, and Bryant, open the 2023 football season at home on Friday. However, they will all kick off at 8 p.m. instead of the usual 7.

Maurice Heard, the Coordinator of Extracurricular Activities and Safety for Tuscaloosa City Schools, said they followed the recommendations of the Alabama High School Athletic Association.

He said it gave them a chart that listed heat indexes and offered guidance of when not to have students participating in outside activities.

“Even though it’s going to be hot at 8 o’clock, it gives us our best chance for the heat to diminish. We just want to make sure our student athletes, our officials, our coaches, and everybody who’s attending the game is as comfortable as possible,” said Heard. “It’s going to be hot, but we still wanted to do the best that we can to keep everybody safe.”

Water misters will be on the sideline to cool off players, game officials can call heat timeouts for the teams, and concession stands will be stocked with water for football fans.

Get highlights and scores from the opening week of high school football with SIDELINE, starting at 10:25 p.m. Friday night on WBRC FOX6, the WBRC News app, and on Facebook.