More than 15 hours later on Saturday morning, it was anything but.
Game officials failed to show up for the Thunder’s game at Vina, a small community in northwest Alabama near the Mississippi line. The two teams waited until a neighboring referee crew could finish its assigned game and pull double duty.
“I’ve never been through anything like it,” JCA interim coach Larry Bollinger said. “I didn’t realize that anything was wrong until just before we were fixing to go back in the dressing room" after warm-ups.
The game, originally scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m., didn’t start until around 10:30 and it wasn’t until after midnight that Jacksonville Christian’s 7-6 win was in the books.
And when it was over, JCA and its fans still had to travel 185 miles home.
“We pulled back in the parking lot at 4:30 Saturday morning,” Bollinger said.
Jacksonville Christian is at home this week, playing host to Parkway Christian. Bollinger, who is filling in while head coach Tommy Miller recovers from double bypass heart surgery, said the school will have officials this week.
