High school football is played in most towns in the United States, from the northernmost city of Point Barrow, Alaska, to the southernmost city of Key West, Fla., and all points in between.
For many of those high schools, practicing and playing the games can often be taken for granted. The teams that are located in the extreme parts of the United States deal with many natural hardships that make it difficult to run a practice, let alone build a program.
Wind, rain, heat, high elevation and remote locations are obstacles that some teams have to overcome in order to simply take part in the Friday Night Lights.
MaxPreps takes a look at five such places:
ASTORIA, ORE.
Standing water on the field is often a part of playing football in Astoria, Ore. Add in the fog and cold, and it's no wonder that Knappa High holds indoor practices sometimes.
Photo courtesy of Kathy Morgan
In Astoria, rain plays a role in everything from practice location to home-field advantage.
Located in the northwestern corner of the state, Astoria is a small community supported by a paper mill, the logging industry and commercial fishing. The town has also been the site of a number of Hollywood films, including "The Goonies" and "Free Willy."
If you like dry feet, then Astoriaisn't the place you want to play football.
Photo courtesy of Kathy Morgan
Astoria is also the rainiest city in the continental United States with close to 70 inches of rainfall per year. As a result, coach Aaron Thornton at
Knappa (Astoria, Ore.), which is actually located about 15 miles away from Astoria, has had to adjust practices due to the constant precipitation.
"We get a lot of rain and usually end up practicing and playing in the mud by the end of the year. Extreme wind is also common," said Thornton. "We practice inside when the wind and rain are super heavy. There have been practices where you couldn't hear the guy next to you because of the weather."
Thornton noted that despite the rainy conditions, his team has great support from the community. Although the school has just 140 students, it won a state title in 2008 and has gone 33-3 over the past three seasons.
"We've hosted playoff games the last few years and our players handle the soft field better than some of the teams from the eastern side of the state," said Thornton. "The second half of the seasons is always super wet and cold, so only the toughest boys are unaffected."
From drenching rain to hot, hot heat (Continue reading)
