The storm front that wreaked havoc on Friday night football games all over Southwest Mississippi rolled into Crystal Springs right as the Wesson Cobra offense started rolling.

Wesson had just grabbed an 8-0 lead over the Tigers on an Antrelle Sims 7-yard run. Sims, a sophomore making his first career start, faked the handoff to his running back and beat the Crystal Springs defense to the pylon.

The Wesson scoring drive was set up by an interception by Victavian Edwards.

Five minutes after the Cobra touchdown, with 3:46 left in the first half, a lightning strike in the area forced the teams off the field.

As the lightning and thunder got closer, the stadium cleared out as fans raced to their cars.

The officials waited until 9:30 p.m. before making the call to end the game.

“We wanted to play obviously,” said Wesson coach Jeremy Loy. “Our jamboree was rained out and we’ve got a good Sumrall team coming to our place next week. Once it got late and there was still lightning in the area, the officials really didn’t have a choice.”

Loy says the game most likely won’t be made up. The teams considered finishing on today, but an unpromising forecast resulted in an outright cancellation.

Story by Cliff Furr