Mother Nature and a missing ref wreaked havoc on Gilroy High
athletics Tuesday afternoon.
Mother Nature and a missing ref wreaked havoc on Gilroy High athletics Tuesday afternoon.
For starters, the biggest October rainstorm in years cancelled three events involving the Mustangs: a home tennis match versus Notre Dame, a home field hockey game against Santa Catalina and a Tri-County Athletic League golf tournament at Cordevalle in Morgan Hill.
As of press time, only the field hockey game had been rescheduled. The Mustangs will now take on the Cougars in their regular season finale Tuesday at 3:30pm. It’s the second time the game has been moved.
Meanwhile, even with the rainy weather, the GHS girls’ water polo team was still set to take on Salinas. Those plans were changed, however, when the scheduled referee failed to show.
Gilroy athletic director Jack Daley said the officials he called tried unsuccessfully to reach the referee. So after about 45 minutes, Daley and the two head coaches decided to play the junior varsity game with the two head coaches filling in as refs.
Because many of the varsity Salinas players had to leave for a previously scheduled choir recital, though, the varsity match was rescheduled for Thursday at 3:30pm.
“The sun came out and we saw a rainbow … we thought there wasn’t going to be a problem,” Salinas coach Patty Lamar said. “But we’re not blaming anybody. Things like this happen.”
Gilroy senior Cate Pedersen said she’s never had a match postponed because of a missing referee, though.
“The worst part was that it was so cold,” she said. “And when you get into the pool, you never like to have the game cancelled – especially when it’s something like the ref not being there.”
