SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – Friday night’s game between Broome and Chesnee is one both players and fans get most excited for.
“Great atmosphere tomorrow night, these are two teams that are rival schools, we both won last week, our communities are close knit,” said Hal McMamus, Broome High School athletic director.
In this year’s game, aside from talented new players or home team advantage, there’s another factor added into the mix that may throw off some players.
“We got cold tubs that will be set up for kids in case anything happens, we got two EMS crews,” said McManus.
The national weather service at GSP airport said it will come close to 100 degrees in the Upstate tomorrow, with the heat index reaching as high as 105. It’s why Broome is one of many Spartanburg County schools taking extra safety measures.
“We met yesterday and we didn’t have a good feeling about not only just starting at 7:30 but the pre-game stuff, having the pads on the kids and being out in the heat,” said McManus. “We thought the sun is going down at 8:09 or 8:10 tomorrow night, we start at 8 o’clock and we’d be in great shape.”
Mcmanus is the new athletic director for Broome, but has been at the school and district for years. He’s been around sports long enough to know safety is the first priority, and he hopes the later start will help keep players and fans protected from the heat.
“Our major priority in any school system is the safety of not only our student athletes but everybody that comes on our campus, and that’s something you got to look at weeks ahead of time and be monitoring,” said McManus.