The start of the high school football season has been a bit reminiscent of the weather-related havoc in 2005 and 2020.

While a hurricane has yet to make landfall in Southwest Louisiana this season, an unnamed tropical system last week and Hurricane Francine this week have forced eight games to be moved to Saturdays, usually reserved for college football.

Several schools had to play on Saturdays in 2005 and 2020 because many stadiums lost their lights to Hurricanes Rita and Laura.

Even with the headache of making sure volunteers are available to man ticket booths and concession stands and lining up officials, LaGrange head coach Idaibi Ogbanga said it gives the Gators a bigger atmosphere. And he said he is open in the future to Saturday games not caused by weather-related issues. They will play on a Saturday for the second time in as many weeks, as will their opponent, Westlake. The game will start at 6 p.m. at John J. Mims Stadium.

“It gives us the college atmosphere,” Ogbanga said. “The kids kind of like it too. They are really excited about it. Every time we talk about Saturday games, they say it feels like college football.”

The Gators originally had their homecoming game scheduled for Nov. 1 against Iowa, but it had to be moved because of various conflicts, including McNeese State’s homecoming.

The Calcasieu Parish School Board allowed teams to conduct voluntary practices on Wednesday before students returned to class today.

“It’s weird. I’ve played one Saturday game in 30 years of coaching and I’ve got two in a row,” Westlake head coach John Richardson said. “It creates some problems in kids’ work schedules and things like that.

“But it is what it is. It’s one of those situations and you just have to adapt and do the best you can. I think the last time we had Saturday games was probably after Laura.”

Playing on Saturday didn’t bother the Rams much in their season opener last week, a 50-6 win over Rosepine.

LaGrange is coming off its first season- opening win since 2010. The Gators beat Peabody last week 22-20. David Martin scored on a kickoff return, Stephen Coleman picked off a pass and Brayden Williams had four sacks.

“People don’t understand,” Ogbanga said. “My seniors only won one or two games since they’ve been at school their whole high school career.

“We’re still teaching our kids how to win. I thought my kids fought through adversity. Last year, they probably let their heads down. This year, they just kept fighting.”

Grand Lake is no stranger to weather impacting games. In 2020, they didn’t play on their home field at all because of Hurricanes Laura and Delta, including a Wednesday game. Weather impacted their season opener last week. They beat East Beauregard 29-8 on a muddy field.

“I just thought they handled all the problems of all that real well and just kept doing what they do,” head coach Jeff Wainwright

said. “That’s what’s kind of exciting about this group, they’re a tough group. They have fun playing ball no matter the conditions or what time of day or where at.”

Week 2 Southwest La. prep football schedule

Friday, Sept. 13

Nondistrict: Sam Houston at Teurlings Catholic, Northside at Sulphur, Many at DeRidder, Iowa at Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Tx., Tioga at Leesville, Jennings at Eunice, Lake Arthur at DeQuincy, Opelousas Catholic at East Beauregard, Kinder at Iota, Oakdale at Welsh, Pickering at Montgomery, Merryville at Vinton, Mamou at Basile, Elton at Northwood-Lena, Highland Baptist at Hamilton Christian (at Cougar Stadium), Oberlin at Bolton Academy.

Saturday, Sept. 14

Nondistrict: Barbe at Lake Charles College Prep (at Cougar Stadium), 1 p.m.; South Beauregard at Washington-Marion, 6 p.m.; Bunkie at St. Louis Catholic (at Matt Walker Memorial Stadium), Noon; Rosepine at Grand Lake, 6 p.m.; Westlake at LaGrange, 6 p.m.