Gamecocks ‘lucky to play’ after Hurricane Idalia hits Screven County

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Between the scorching hot temperatures last week and the storm this week, teams around the CSRA had to battle obstacles both on and off the field.

Screven County was one of the counties in the CSRA that took a major hit from Hurricane Idalia.

We caught up with the Gamecocks head coach before Friday’s game against Westside.

Screven County is playing on Friday after having a rough week off of the field.

“We didn’t know how bad it was gonna be and I think we had 10 inches of rain. It was pretty bad but, you know, we got just about everybody here,” said Ron Duncan, Screven County head coach.

On Thursday, most got their power restored after Hurricane Idelia hit the lower counties in the CSRA.

“We were out of power from Wednesday until last night around 8 p.m. and I was just short of grabbing a bar of soup and jumping in the swimming pool to take a bath,” said Duncan.

The Gamecocks say they are just grateful to be on the field.

“We’re lucky to be playing, you know, so it’s something that we’ve had to deal with, but you know, it is what it is. They say you make the best of it. We wanted to play the game tonight,” said Duncan.

Screven County was limited to two practices this week, but this young team will look to give it their all on the gridiron.

On the other side of the line, Westside is dealing with school safety and weather distractions.

Westside Head Coach Lee Hutto says the distractions are manageable, but he’s needed to keep players locked in from week to week.

“Our coaches have done a great job of eliminating those distractions, and just keeping our kids focused on what matters at the time, and that’s football. You know, that’s our preparation in the weight room or preparation on the grass, and then of course, putting us in a position to be successful on Friday,” said Hutto.

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