Long Island weather: Nassau and Suffolk postpone all high school sports events for Saturday because of potential nor'easter
Grace Bolic of Bellmore walks along Jones Beach as the rough surf hits the shore on Friday. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp
With a nor’easter expected to bring heavy winds and rain this weekend, all high school sports events on Saturday have been postponed.
The Massapequa–Garden City showdown of football unbeatens has been rescheduled for 5 p.m. on Monday at Hofstra's Shuart Stadium. Garden City has the longest win streak in the country at 68 games. And Massapequa has won 25 games in a row.
“We follow the recommendation of the county office,” said Pat Pizzarelli, the executive director for Section VIII. which governs all interscholastic sports. “Our main priority and responsibility are the safety of our athletes.”
Nassau County executive Bruce Blakeman and Suffolk County executive Ed Romaine called an early afternoon news conference and recommended no travel for Saturday and Sunday.
“We are shutting down all athletic contests countywide,” said Tom Combs, the executive director for Section XI (Suffolk). “We are following the advice of our superintendents, executive board of directors and the emergency notifications from Suffolk County. It’s clear that this can turn into a very dangerous situation. This decision keeps our bus drivers and all people driving to games off potentially hazardous roads and safe. It also places the safety of our coaches and student-athletes as our top priority.”
There are no school sports scheduled for Sunday.
“Sunday is not an option for makeup games,” Combs said. “There are 13 varsity football games [in Suffolk] postponed on Saturday. They will be played on Monday.”
In Nassau, the other 12 varsity football games will be played either Monday or Tuesday.
“It will be dependent on the availability of our officials,” Pizzarelli said.
With a shortage of officials, the postponements will have a trickle-down effect on all junior varsity and middle school football games that were originally scheduled for Monday.
“The varsity contests in all sports will take precedence over the JV and middle school games which might result in those contests ultimately being cancelled,” Combs said. “Officials will be re-assigned and working the varsity games. We are asking schools hosting with no lights to start games at 4 p.m. Schools with lights will play at either 6 or 7 p.m.”
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
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