By: Jonathan “Walker” Speer

With hurricane Dorian marching up the east coast, athletic departments find themselves in recently charted waters where they must cancel, move, or postpone an athletic competition that for many schools are probably the home opener for many of the fall sports.

This season, the Shenandoah Hornets were supposed to play their home opener for football against the Methodist University Monarchs this Saturday (9/7/19) at 1pm. The Monarchs had to cancel the game due to the dangers of travel and the rush of people from other states that are in the hurricane’s path.

As fans of our school, it’s definitely disappointing to hear that the first home game of the season has gotten cancelled but how do the players feel about it?

Sophomore DB David Agyei had this to say, “It’s really frustrating that things turned out like that but the best thing we can do is turn our focus to the next opponent which is North Carolina Wesleyan.”

Sophomore DL Mason Caldwell also gave his thoughts on the situation in saying “It’s really disappointing not being able to play in our first game this coming Saturday, but I feel as if the team has taken it well and shifted our focus to our next game.” When asked about the hope of the game being rescheduled if possible, Caldwell responded by saying “We are hoping the game gets rescheduled but as of right now, our focus is on North Carolina Wesleyan.”

Out of curiosity, I wanted to try and find a list of college football games that had been cancelled, postponed, or moved up to this point in the season. My search led me to the College Football subreddit. The thread regarding games affected by the hurricane is by far the most detailed list, it lists D1, D2, D3, and NAIA.

The thread also includes links to resources for information regarding Dorian and also a list of things you should do if you need to evacuate. It is safe to assume that sport schedules will start to become more flexible when it comes to changing dates because of hurricanes that seem to be getting stronger and stronger with each season.

This is not the first-time schools have had to cancel or postpone events due to hurricanes and unfortunately it certainly won’t be the last time they have to for the foreseeable future.