Most of the fans spent the 50-minute lightning delay in their cars after being turned away by school district police at the main gates.
The cheerleaders instead opted for the locker rooms after a soggy, screaming jog across the track and turf as the wind blew over team benches and the rain shorted the scoreboard.
Shawnee Mission East coach Dustin Delaney and his Lancers decided to spend the delay alternating between stretches, walking and a little free time in the gym as tornadoes touched down less than 30 miles away from the SM South District Stadium.
The strategy seemed to work for the defending Kansas Class 6A state champions, who eased their way to a 44-20 victory against SM Northwest on Friday night. They improved to 3-0 with a 2-0 ledger in the Sunflower League, outscoring opponents 138-20 in that time.
The Cougars dropped to 1-2 and 1-1 in league play in Bo Black’s first year.
“We let them kind of get loose a little bit, because you don’t want them focused for that many hours in a row,” Delaney said. “Our kids did a good job of handling it and played well in the first half, I thought.”
Delaney attributed the successful recovery to his senior class that has now won 16 consecutive games and played in the last two Class 6A state title games. They have lost just twice in his two-plus years at the helm.
“With that much time off, weird things can happen, but our kids came out ready to play and excited that we were getting the game in,” Delaney said.
