Tropical storm threat disrupts Charleston County schedule

Tropical Storm Hanna has halted high school football in Charleston County this weekend. But games involving schools from Berkeley and Dorchester counties are still on, although all of the action will take place tonight rather than Friday.

The threat of Hanna led the Charleston County School District to cancel all competition through Friday. The district will decide by midday today whether to open schools Friday.

Dave Spurlock, who oversees Charleston County high school athletics, said Monday is the optimal day for practices and games to resume because playing fields could be in bad shape Saturday if the area is hit with potentially heavy rain.

All Berkeley County teams play tonight with the exception of Hanahan, which had a scheduled open date.

The marquee game of the night is Summerville at Goose Creek, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Gibson Stadium.

Both teams are coming off season-opening losses. Goose Creek traveled to Rock Hill and dropped a 42-21 decision to Northwestern, while Summerville dropped a tough, 21-20 decision at home to Conway.

Goose Creek coach Chuck Reedy said all the talk about a possible tropical storm hasn't distracted his team.

"We've had a great week of practice," Reedy said. "We had a great practice Monday. It was Labor Day, so we were able to stay longer and work harder. We got a lot of work done. Our guys are excited. Any time they get a chance to play Summerville, they get excited."

Goose Creek gained 332 yards on the ground, but sputtered at times. The Gators had a drive end at the Northwestern 1 on their first possession, and turned the ball over four times as the Trojans jumped to a 28-0 lead.

"I'm not a guy to make excuses, and I'm disappointed we lost, but I was encouraged by the way we played," Reedy said. "The guys kept the right attitude and made a lot of positive plays after falling behind. It was a great experience for us, and I'm glad we scheduled them. We were just as good as them."

Summerville managed 264 yards in total offense, including 237 on the ground in the loss to Conway. Quarterback Donny McElveen, the grandson of coach John McKissick, completed only 1 of 7 passes for 27 yards. He did manage 84 yards rushing.

"They lost a lot of good people like (receiver) A.J. Green and (quarterback) Reid McCollum," Reedy said. "They lost some great players on defense, too. They're not the same team they were last year, but they're still Summerville. With 3,300 students, they're going to have the great athletes and big linemen. They're just going to have different names and numbers."

Reach Philip M. Bowman at pbowman@postandcourier.com or at 937-5592.

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