For the first time in possibly the history of the Sampson County Pigskin Jamboree, the annual football event held at Clinton High School was cancelled Friday night with no expected make-up date.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms moved into the area early Friday and lingered throughout much of the day. By mid afternoon, the rain became more scattered but in their wake, training thunderstorms had left Clinton’s playing surface in a muddy mess.
“Clinton’s field is a swamp,” said county athletic director James Lewis. “We had no choice. Five inches of rain is unbelievable.”
Shortly after the cancellation, there were whispers of an attempt to hold the event on Saturday, but that has since been ruled out with CHS administration saying the field is simply too wet to even paint, let alone be played on.
With the jamboree cancelled, area teams will now focus on getting themselves prepped for Friday night’s opening games.
Friday’s matchups include Lakewood hitting the road to take on Wake Christian Academy, Hobbton hosting East Chapel Hill, Harrells hosting Sandhills Titans, Union traveling to take on Midway and the Nissan of Clinton Game of the Week featuring Clinton hosting Cape Fear (see related story).
As always, the Sampson Independent will feature a county football tab highlighting all six of the county football teams this upcoming season. That is scheduled to run in the weekend edition on Saturday, Aug. 31. A 2019 Pigskin Preview magazine, also a supplement offered by The Independent and expected to be handed out at Friday’s jamboree, will instead be distributed at games next week and will soon be available at local businesses, schools and offices around the county.
Copies of the full-color magazine, which features every high school football team in Sampson along with advertisements from a variety of local entities, will also be for sale at the Sampson Independent offices.
