The St. Francis High Sharks postponed their Saturday afternoon football game against Soquel High to a further date because of poor air quality from the ongoing fires in California’s Wine Country, the school announced on Saturday morning.
Athletic Director Adam Hazel and the rest of the St. Francis leadership had hoped to play their Mission Trail Athletic League Coastal division game against Soquel at its normally scheduled 2 p.m. kickoff. But the air quality, according to AirNow.Gov, had not improved to playable standards by 9 a.m.
The hope is for the Sharks to play the Knights on either Nov. 10 or 11.
Fellow Santa Cruz County football programs, Aptos High, Watsonville High, Santa Cruz High and Harbor High postponed their Friday night football games to a further date, too.
The six county schools joined dozens of other high school teams from Northern California in either postponing or canceling their games because of dangerous levels of smoke from the deadly fires, which have, as of Saturday afternoon, killed 35 and displaced thousands from their homes, according to media reports.
The Central Coast Section on Thursday made the decision to push back the start of the football playoffs by one week to allow teams from the section to make up the weekend’s postponed action at a later date.
The change will not impede any CCS football team from competing in a California Interscholastic Federation NorCal bowl game or state championship, as the CCS finals will now be held on Dec. 1-2.
