Thursday night football games making a comeback this fall

Friday nights during the fall center around high school football, but kickoffs will also be taking place on Thursday nights to help cope with a shortage of game officials.

The Poplar Bluff Mules are scheduled to play at Sikeston on Thursday, Sept. 22, this season.

“I hope it’s something that only happens this year because we’re used to Friday night football,” said Kent Keith, Poplar Bluff athletic director.

Keith and his counterparts around the state have seen shortages of officials in all sports.

Each game features a crew of five officials led by the referee. There’s also an umpire, head linesman, a line judge and back judge.

“I think officiating is a lot like coaching,” Poplar Bluff coach David Sievers said, “It’s not something you do for the money. I think it’s something you do because you just enjoy being around the game.”

The SEMO Football Officials Association currently has about 100 members that cover games for 25-plus schools. Last year the group had five new officials while 25 officials had 20 or more years of experience.

“We’ve got some crews that have been doing it for a really long time and they’re getting out,” Sievers said.

MSHSAA waives first year registration fees for veterans and active military members. There has also been a push by the organization to get recently graduated athletes to transition into officiating.

New officials must pass a test to be certified and there is training. Registration to become an official can be found online at www.mshsaa.org and fees are $65 plus $30 for a second sport and $25 for additional sports.

The registration period to officiate this fall ends July 15.

New officials start out at lower levels and work their way up to varsity games so any recent gains in numbers won’t be felt this fall.

Junior high football games are played on Thursday nights while junior varsity game are Mondays.

Keith said he was reluctant to move a home date to Thursday night since Mules Stadium is only scheduled to host four games in the regular season.

There was also consideration for travel since football games tend to end later than other sports.

Keith said he expects attendance to be smaller.

Thursday night games were a fixture at the end of the varsity season each fall prior to 2012 when the current playoff system was adopted.

The final game of the regular season, which was also the last of the three-game district round-robin playoff, was usually played on Thursday nights to give the district champions an extra day to prepare for the opening round of the state playoffs.

Cape Central played many of its home games at Thursday nights when the Tigers played at Houck Stadium and the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks had a home game scheduled for Saturday.

Poplar Bluff’s last Thursday night game was at Seckman to end the 2011 season. The Mules also played a Saturday afternoon game that year, facing Savannah at Webb City.

“I think most people will probably prefer to play on Thursdays,” Sievers said.

Playing on Saturday shortens the schedule for the following week, Sievers said, which is usually a team’s day of rest.

Sievers said coaches like a regimented routine and that the athletes probably handle change “better than we do.”

“It’s not the end of the world,” Sievers said. “It will be different. We’ll adjust.”