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Smoke leaves football openers up in the air By Kris Henry Updated: Sep 01, 2022 02:56 PM A A North Medford moves home opener to Eugene; other schools wait to make call High school football administrators were holding out hope but not overly optimistic season openers would be played here in the Rogue Valley as of late Thursday afternoon due to degrading air quality issues. Only one school — North Medford — made the proactive move Thursday to avoid any late scrambling and changed venues for its first football game, which was set to be played at Spiegelberg Stadium. The Black Tornado is now set to open at 7 p.m. at Willamette High School in Eugene on Friday, marking the fifth time in six seasons (including the COVID-dealyed 2020 campaign that there will be no home game at Spiegelberg on opening night. Last year, North Medford saw its home opener against Del Norte High switch venues and then ultimately get canceled. The athletic directors at Eagle Point, Phoenix and Cascade Christian — whose teams were the only others set to start the year here locally — said they were still holding out hope that the air quality index would be fine for play here in Southern Oregon on Friday. With that said, those ADs were also busy Thursday shoring up contingency plans should games ultimately need to be moved out of the area. Eagle Point’s home opener against Ashland could potentially be played in La Pine or Bend, according to Eagles athletic director Kacey McNulty. Phoenix athletic director Dave Ehrhardt said, if necessary, his Pirates would open at South Umpqua in a switch of expected homefield advantages. Cascade Christian AD Nate Mayben said the Challengers’ ultimate decision will come Friday morning, with a Plan B of switching to the Douglas High home field. “Even though we’ve been through this so many years in a row,” said Ashland football coach Beau Lehnerz of the AQI issues and potential game movements, “it’s always like a gut punch. Our hopes were up this summer and it seemed to be relatively clear and be what we want it to be to get our games in with no smoke and no cancellations. But we’ll deal with it as best as possible, just like everyone else here in the valley.” “Ideally we have everything line up and we get to play as scheduled,” added Lehnerz, “but we’ll see.” Continued spread of the Rum Creek Fire has pushed smoke into the unhealthy range here in the Medford area and hazardous range around Grants Pass, leaving any game being played locally in question as schools adhere to air quality guidelines. The guidelines were created by the Oregon School Activities Association in consultation with the Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. They were revised in July to change the cutoff for the mandatory cancellation of games from an AQI exceeding 100 to now at 151 and over — and that 50-point move could very well make all the difference for the potential of home contests. Have a story idea? Reach sports editor Kris Henry at 541-776-4488, [email protected] or via Twitter @Kris_Henry Photo by Denise Baratta. Ashland football coach Beau Lehnerz speaks with players during a preseason practice at Ashland High School.