Thursday Night Lights

Diamond Ranch travels to Chaffey in week three on Thursday night

Everybody knows about Friday night lights. High school football and Friday nights in the Fall go hand in hand. But if you’re a football fan, writer, blogger or simply poster you’re going to be busy on Thursday nights as well.

A decade ago, when I first started doing this, we had to search for a game on Thursday nights. Once every few weeks we would come across a Montview League game at Citrus College or a contest at Covina District Field. We built our schedules around Friday night so we just considered it bonus coverage- an extra game to fill in some space. But ten years later it’s the norm.

From the first week of September until the middle of November, you can find a good Thursday night game every week. You better tell the wife now. Clue the girlfriend in. Did you know that on Thursday September 2, there are ten games scheduled in the Southern Section? At least four of them are relevant to the local area. Valley Christian at Tesoro highlights zero week action.

In week one on September 9, you can find such jewels as Alhambra at La Canada and La Puente at El Monte. Anybody for a nice cross-town match up like Gladstone- Covina?

Thursday night action blows up in week two as Hacienda League favorite West Covina travels to Covina District Field to take on former San Antonio League foe South Hills. If you want to see a solid Mid-Valley Division team you can catch Azusa at home, (Citrus College), against Ontario Christian.

No, it’s not possible to take a Thursday night off. Don’t even think about it. Week three features Diamond Ranch at Chaffey and in week four? Are you ready for this? Monrovia and South Hills get together at Covina District Field. If that doesn’t do it for you, California hosts Schurr.

Later in the year, on October 14, Pasadena and Glendale square off in Pacific League action. If you feel like taking a trip to the OC, St. John Bosco and Mater Dei take the field at Santa Ana Stadium the same evening.  

Baldwin Park and Covina headline the local Thursday night battles on October 21 while on October 28 you can watch Crescenta Valley and Burroughs. The last Thursday of the regular season on November 11 could be huge in the Pacific as well as the Southeast Division as Burbank takes on city rival Burroughs.

You get the idea. You might have to put the Thursday night bowling league on hold. High School football isn’t just for Fridays anymore.

Tim can be reached at tspeterson32@yahoo.com.

Leave a Reply