The Arkansas Activities Association announced the postponement of seven high school football playoff games Friday, including the Class 5A state championship game, because of the threat of severe weather.
The Class 5A state championship game between Pulaski Academy and Little Rock Christian will be played at 2 p.m. Sunday at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
The Class 4A, 3A and 2A semifinal games will be played at 6 p.m. today. In Class 4A, Joe T. Robinson hosts Dumas, while Arkadelphia travels to Shiloh Christian. The Class 3A semifinal games feature Prescott at Booneville and Rison at Osceola. For Class 2A, the matchups are Mount Ida at Hazen and Junction City at Foreman.
Today's originally scheduled state championship games at War Memorial Stadium were not affected. The Class 6A final between Benton and Greenwood is at noon, and Bryant faces North Little Rock at 6:30 p.m. in the Class 7A final.
AAA Executive Director Lance Taylor said safety and travel were the main reasons for postponing Friday's games.
"Some teams are going a long way," Taylor said. "What if they get delayed [during the game]? Then they don't get out until real late at night."
Taylor said the AAA looked at several weather maps and every Little Rock TV station's projected forecast. The National Weather Service's forecast said several rounds of showers and thunderstorms were expected late Friday afternoon and into Friday night. Damaging winds, large hail and a few tornadoes were listed as primary threats.
When asked whether there was a possibility of playing three state championship games today, Taylor said that was not an option because the teams playing today already have their game-day schedule.
The Class 5A final will be the state's first high school football state championship game played on a Sunday.
This is the first time since 2013 that the state high school playoff schedule has been affected because of weather. A potential ice storm forced the AAA to move the Class 7A/6A/5A championship weekend and the Class 4A/3A/2A semifinals back a week.
Taylor is looking forward to the state championship weekend.
"They're all great matchups," Taylor said. "I don't remember a weekend like this. It's unique. The teams are used to each other. They'll take their competitiveness to a different level."
Sports on 12/01/2018