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Elgin, Dundee-Crown postponed again

If Malik Dunner's manager at White Castle is reading this and has not received a call yet from the Dundee-Crown safety, there's a slider coming your way that's not on the menu.

"I can't work (today), so I can't make money," Dunner said lightheartedly in reference to Saturday's rescheduled game against Elgin at Memorial Field. "I guess our team will make that money on the field."

Dunner will miss his day shift at the fast food burger hub due to Friday evening's lightning show in the greater-Elgin area forced the teams to reschedule their Week 1 showdown for 5 p.m. Saturday in Elgin. For the second-straight year the schools have postponed football due to weather.

"I've been looking at the radar the past few days and it was pretty much the same thing as last year," Dunner said. "(I) was looking at it and said, 'aw man, this can't happen again. Aw, man.' "

The Maroons, who had a giant student section all riled up for Opening Night, were just about to kick off to the Chargers when lightning was spotted overhead to the south end of the field. Fans were directed to Chesbrough Field House and school officials on both sides hoped the storms would move to the north in time before Elgin athletic director Paul Pennington's drop dead time of 10 p.m. At 9:09 p.m., the game was called.

Memorial Field saw a brief shower pass through which paled in comparison to the storms that traveled through Carpentersville last year that kept both teams in their respective locker rooms. This year it was just lightning in the distance that would not subside and it forced the debut of D-C head coach Mike Steinhaus to be pushed back a day just like Kyle Rohde's inception for Elgin last season.

"That's all right, we've done this before so it's something we're certainly prepared for," said Steinhaus. "We were amped up. I think the boys were focused. I liked our focus. I think we were prepared and it's just another day for us. We're going to do the same stuff we did (Friday) and prepare the same way. They've been preparing since November so basically they're ready to go."

So too was Rohde and his bunch but the second year coach was pretty frustrated because the night had all the makings for a good one.

"I thought the atmosphere was great. (Dundee-Crown) showed up with a lot of people. We had a lot of people. Band sounded good. Everything felt good (for) opening night. It just wasn't meant to be," Rohde said. "It is what it is. None of us can say 'turn the lightning off.' Just aggravating."

Maroons quarterback Dontrell Gaddy didn't seem agitated but thought Elgin wouldn't lose its focus even if the game was postponed another 21 hours.

"We'll be fired up," Gaddy said. "No matter what the conditions are we come ready because we know we don't want the same season as last year so we're trying to change things around, a lot of guys in different spots but usually we're fired up everyday no matter if it's practice, warm-ups, whatever the case may be we're fired up."

  Elgin and Dundee-Crown High School coaches talk with officials as the players stand on the field ready for the kickoff of the variety game on Friday. The game was postponed due to lightning and will be played at 5 p.m. Saturday. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
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