Who Says SoCal Fans Won't Go Out in Rain?
Prep football fans, anyway, will. At least Redlands East Valley High School fans.
So many of them were in the stands at Yucaipa High School when I pulled into the parking lot at 6:50 p.m. that I thought it might be a 7 p.m. game.
Nope. It's 7:30. They just all got here early.
Doesn't make much sense ... from the perspective of getting wet. The early-comers have an extra 30-40 minutes in the elements.
The rain had let up a bit, for a few minutes, but it's coming down again now.
Luckily, it's isn't particularly cold. No wind. It's bearable ... aside from that soaked-to-the-bone part of it.
Most fans have come wearing ponchos or plastic bags ... and everyone has a hat or a hood or both.
The main grandstand is filled. Might not be tightly packed because of all the umbrellas. The visitors side is very lightly populated, which could be a function of Corona Santiago people struggling to get here, on a rainy Friday night, coming up the 91/215/10.
So far, the extra bleachers REV had put up at the south end (the Yucaipa Blvd side) of the stadium are unused.
Warmups are under way, and it strikes me as a very VERY good thing this is not being played at the U of Redlands, REV's normal home field ... because the U of R field was going to pieces two weeks ago ... and after an inch of rain today ... these guys would have torn it up.
REV and Redlands never have been able to play at the U of R in the semifinal round because the school's annual Festival of Lights is scheduled, and there's no way to get a prep game on campus, too.
Anyway ... Yucaipa went to Field Turf (artificial, that is) just this season, and it's a good thing. No obvious puddles on the playing surface, and no mud, of course. Might make for a quasi-normal game. Probably depends on how wet the ball gets.
I imagine both coaching staffs are talking to their skill guys about making sure they hold the ball, which is gonna get wet.