KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva covers stories in the Northland. She also focuses on issues surrounding immigration. Share your story idea with Fernanda.
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Out of precaution, many high schools in the Kansas City area moved up their football games due to storm chances.
At Liberty High School, the last home game of the regular season was originally supposed to start at 7 p.m. Friday, but it was moved up by one hour.
Liberty High School quarterback coach Eric Holm was one of the first people on the field before 3:30 p.m. The change didn’t bother him.
“It's almost good in a way because the waiting is the hard part a lot of times,” Holm said. “You're sitting around all day, you're anxious, you want to get to the game — and this way, you don't have to wait as long.”
In nearly 20 years of working with high school athletics, he has seen changes in how schools handle weather.
“We criticize social media a lot, but this is one of those times where everybody's connected,” Holm said, reflecting on how people involved with the game were able to get information quickly.
That connection helped Liberty’s dance team adjust to the new schedule. Seniors Zoe Mead and juniors Blayne Willis and Ava Balicki, three of the team captains, were responsible for spreading the word.
“We just sent out a text to the team to be here an hour earlier,” Balicki said.
“It wasn’t that big of a deal,” Willis said.
Some families' plans, though, were affected by the change.
“It affected Senior Night a little bit just because some siblings live farther away and might not get here on time,” Mead said.
At the concession stand, Tracy Fleming and Kristen Jackson said they had to adjust their schedules to be there for the earlier game.
“We kind of had to juggle kids’ schedules and our own work schedules to be here an hour early,” Fleming said.
“We were on a college visit to KU, and we had to leave early to get back here to do this,” Jackson said.
Senior Jonathan Pearcy said his granddad and great-granddad drove five hours from Iowa.
“They just had to speed things up a little to make the game,” he said.
Brittany Bender, the mother of a freshman on the dance team, didn’t get to watch her daughter’s presentation before the game began.
“I was supposed to be here at 6 — which is early — but now I’m getting here at 6, and the game’s already starting. So that’s a bummer,” Bender said.
Athletic Director Jason Cahill is one of the people behind that call. He said this kind of change doesn’t happen very often, but safety is their top priority.
“It’s a difficult decision,” Cahill said. “For these seniors being honored tonight, this is the first time in four years we’ve had to move up a game.”
Emma Bright, who was also on the field early due to her role as a football manager, saw the change in a positive light.
“Any chance to play more football is a good thing,” Bright said.
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