A Lowcountry tradition: New football stadiums crashed by storms

Whenever a new football stadium comes to the area, count on a storm to crash its grand opening.

When May River’s home debut last weekend was pushed back a day by Tropical Storm Hermine, it marked the third of the past four new Beaufort County football facilities in which the opening celebration didn’t take place on the day it was originally scheduled.

The Sharks, in fact, had it relatively easy — Hilton Head Island saw the 1989 inauguration of its on-campus stadium delayed three days by Hurricane Hugo, and Hurricane Frances forced Bluffton’s 2004 home debut to be rushed into Thursday before everyone headed out of town.

“I’m surprised no one had brought that up,” said Hilton Head Prep coach Dave Adams, directly involved in the first two instances as a Seahawks assistant and Bluffton head coach.

“I’ve opened two stadiums in my life, and in both of them, we had to evacuate because of hurricanes. Now, I wasn’t involved with May River, but that’s close enough. That’s three.”

The lone exception to the trend was Whale Branch’s opening in 2010, though it might have been touch-and-go. The Warriors defeated Baptist Hill on a stormy night in which the area’s other two games — including a Bridge Bowl opener between Hilton Head and Bluffton — weren’t played because of lightning.

Hilton Head Island’s debut, Adams recalled, brought the most anxiety. After six years of playing home games at the old McCracken Field, funds were raised and a new facility finally built on campus. Then Hugo took shape, and no one was sure the Seahawks would even get a chance to use it.

“Coming back, we didn’t know if we’d have a stadium,” Adams recalled. “Hugo was a (Category) 3 coming in, intensifying to a 4 or 5. It was centered on Hilton Head and we didn’t know what was going to happen. It missed us and went to Charleston.”

Rather than a celebration, the pregame festivities against Battery Creek were marked by prayers and pleas for financial help to aid Hugo victims in Charleston.

Bluffton’s inaugural, on the other hand, went by in a rush as Frances churned northward over Florida. When Friday classes were canceled, officials decided the clash against Beaufort would best be played on Thursday night. A 56-0 Beaufort win put an additional damper on the evening.

“And once they played the game, everybody left town,” Adams said.

This story was originally published September 8, 2016 at 8:57 AM with the headline "A Lowcountry tradition: New football stadiums crashed by storms."