Category 2 storm expected to intensify before landfall in northern Florida late Thursday.
As Florida residents prepare for Hurricane Helene's landfall late Thursday and into Friday, the Category 2 storm has wreaked havoc on this weekend's high school football schedule.
Hundreds of games have been moved up, moved back, postponed or canceled to allow residents to focus on preparing for and sheltering from the hurricane.
Forecasters say the hurricane should intensify and bring damaging winds, rain and storm surge to the Big Bend region of Florida when it makes landfall near Tallahassee.
No. 17
Lakeland (Fla.) already played its game this week, handling
Lake Gibson (Lakeland, Fla.) 63-0 on Tuesday.
But it's not just northern Florida that will be impacted by what is projected to be a Category 3 storm. Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and North Carolina all could see effects of the storm.
There are a slew of changes to the schedules in those states, among them a pair of MaxPreps Top 10 Games of the Week.
Unbeatens
Thomas County Central (Thomasville, Ga.) and
Lee County (Leesburg, Ga.) are scheduled to play at 3 p.m. Saturday in Leesburg.
Likewise, the cross-border battle between
Westside (Anderson, S.C.) and
Weddington (Matthews, N.C.) has been moved to 7 p.m. Monday in North Carolina.
In Georgia, 4-1
Grayson (Loganville, Ga.) will travel to
Newton (Covington, Ga.) on Monday for a 6:30 p.m. game against the 2-3 Rams.
Hurricane Helene has forced hundreds of high school football games to be moved, postponed or canceled. A North Carolina-South Carolina battle between Westside at Weddington is now schedule for 7 p.m. Monday. Helene is scheduled to make landfall late Thursday near Tallahassee, Fla. (Photo: Alyson Boyer Rode)
