Rain scrambles Delaware high school football schedule

Delmar High School football coach David Hearn surveys flooding at the school’s Francis E. Nunvar Stadium on Friday morning.

Heavy rains have prompted scheduling changes to at least five Delaware high school football games this weekend.

With fields flooded and schools closed at Indian River, Seaford, Laurel, Delmar and Cape Henlopen on Friday, officials are scrambling to move and/or reschedule games.

The Polytech-Cape Henlopen game has been moved from the grass field at Polytech to the artificial turf field at Cape Henlopen, with a 7 p.m. Friday kickoff.

The St. Georges-Caesar Rodney game has been moved from the grass field at Caesar Rodney to the artificial turf field at St. Georges at 2 p.m. Saturday.

The Sussex Central at Sussex Tech game, originally scheduled for Friday night, has been pushed back to 6 p.m. Saturday.

Delmar coach David Hearn was standing knee deep in water on the field at Francis E. Nunvar Stadium when a reporter called Friday morning.

“It rained hard all night after raining hard all day. Just never a letup,” Hearn said. “I was going to come out and pump some water off, but the drains are covered over. The ditches are full and the drains can’t go anywhere, so the water is just laying right now.”

The Laurel at Delmar game scheduled for Friday night has been postponed, with no makeup date or time determined yet.

“We’d like to play [Saturday], but I’m not sure I see that right now,” Hearn said. “Something is going to have to change real dramatically for us to do that, and absolutely no more rain.”

Seaford athletic director Jerry Kobasa was also scrambling for a solution after Friday night’s home game against Indian River was postponed.

“If we can play [Saturday], we’ll play, no question,” Kobasa said. “But I just don’t know yet. The field is awfully wet, and a lot of roads are flooded.”

Hearn, who has lived in Delmar for all of his 60 years, said this was the worst flooding he has ever seen in the town.

“I just came into school, and on several streets I just had to come to a stop and drift through the water,” said Hearn, in his 25th season as the Wildcats’ head coach. “I’m talking about streets that I haven’t seen flooded in a long time. Every street has water standing on it.

“I live outside of town, and there are several places where the water is across the road, up to people’s houses,” Hearn added. “I’m sure a lot of folks are dealing with trying to keep water out from under their houses.”

This is a developing story. Check back later for more updates.

Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ