The Brownwood Lions have to wait an additional seven days to make their 2024 football season debut, as lightning foiled the chances for a Week 1 showdown with the Abilene Wylie Bulldogs at Gordon Wood Stadium.

According to Lions head football coach Sammy Burnett Saturday morning, he and Wylie head coach Clay Martin agreed that if the two teams could not take the field by 9:30 p.m. Friday, Wylie would head back to Abilene.

For each lightning strike within 10 miles, a high school sports event is delayed. Each additional lightning strike before the time expires results in a reset of the 30-minute delay.

The lightning delay began shortly before 7 p.m. in pre-game warm-ups. Though the heaviest of the rain had passed through the area shortly before 9 p.m., the lightning continued a while longer, which led to what many thought would be just a postponement until Saturday.

Saturdays, however, normally serve as the start of preparation for the next week’s opponent. An opportunity to play the game between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday was presented, Burnett said, as all the necessary elements would have been in place to make a game at Gordon Wood Stadium a reality.

However, with the Bulldogs’ district opener falling on Sept. 27 opposed to the Lions’ first league outing occurring on Oct. 11, Wylie opted to continue forward with their preparations for district play as originally designed. A game Saturday would have hindered both Brownwood and Wylie in regard to devising plans to face their Week 2 foes, along with the additional steps required to gear up for eventual district competition.

The Lions will now open their season at 7 p.m. Friday at Wall (1-0) – which knocked off Mason, 28-6, in Week 1  – in what will be the first of now five pre-district outings. Meanwhile, Wylie while will host Lubbock Monterey (0-1) – which lost to Choctaw, Oklahoma, 40-25,  in its opener – in the first of just three games for the Bulldogs now prior to their league opener.

For those who purchased tickets to Friday’s game, Brownwood ISD will be announcing information next week.