WINTHROP — The collaboration of the Winthrop and Monmouth high school football teams got off to an inauspicious start Friday when its season-opening game against visiting Lisbon was postponed because the field lights failed to come on.

The game will be played at 1:30 p.m. today in Winthrop.

Several hundred fans from Winthrop, Monmouth and Lisbon showed up to watch their teams play in their first game in the newly formed Western Class D division. The announcement of the postponement was made as the game was scheduled to begin.

“We lost a transformer back in the school,” first-year Winthrop athletic director Chris Moreau said. “And that transformer runs the lights outside here.”

Moreau wasn’t sure if the transformer could be repaired by this evening which is why the game is scheduled for this afternoon.

“They have to do some work on them,” Moreau said. “We’re very disappointed. Obviously, it’s our inaugural night and we’re excited about the two schools coming together to play as one and especially against our arch-rival.”

In an ironic twist, none of the fans in attendance were charged admission so there were no refunds.

“I’d hate to say that was pre-planning,” Moreau joked. “That was a whole separate issue.”

 


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