Independence-Byrnes saga: When is a game really a game?

We have our first controversy of the 2026-27 high school sports year, and it involves issues like money, rankings, and sportsmanship.

And it involves one of Mecklenburg County’s iconic football programs – Independence High.

What are the limits to completing a game?

How much do we expect from our student-athletes and school athletic officials?

Those are some of the questions in the wake of Independence’s storm-curtailed game last Friday against Byrnes High in Duncan, S.C., about halfway between Spartanburg and Greenville.

The facts first …

Independence scheduled its season-opener at Byrnes, a perennial S.C. powerhouse.

Patriots’ first-year head coach Robert Williams told the Queen City Sports Report a few weeks earlier that he was looking forward to the game, considering it a solid test for a team he felt is good enough for Meck Power Six Conference championship.

Just 50 seconds into Friday’s game, Byrnes’ Tre Segarra dashed 53 yards for a touchdown, putting the host team ahead 7-0.

About five minutes into the first quarter, a thunderstorm struck Nixon Field. The game was halted. Byrnes led 7-0.

The weather delay stretched past 9 p.m., and officials of the two schools huddled to make a decision.

The options:

Hang around and wait to complete the game, however late that might be.

Finish the game either Saturday or Monday evening.

Call the game, similar to a baseball rainout.

Initial reports indicated the teams had agreed to the third option.

But over the weekend, several reports from the Greenville-Spartanburg area indicated Byrnes officials wanted Option 4 – victory by forfeit.

Cole Bryson, radio play-by-play voice for Byrnes High (yes, Byrnes’ program is big enough to have its own radio crew) and a Spartanburg radio personality, reported that Byrnes won by forfeit, because Independence had declined to return to South Carolina either Saturday or Monday and finish the game.

The rules on all this are murky.  The S.C. High School League’s stated rules call for collaboration between the two schools but allows for a forfeit if one team will not finish the game.  Under N.C. High School Athletic Association rules, the game and its results don’t count.

One thing is for sure – waiting around to finish the game is dumb.

I recall a game a few years ago at Memorial Stadium that didn’t finish until 12:15 a.m., due to weather delays.  Chambers beat Cardinal Gibbons in Raleigh five years ago in a storm-delayed game that didn’t end until 1 a.m.

When high school athletes play late into the night, the risk of injury increases.  And it’s unfair to fans.

Former Harding and West Charlotte head football coach Sam Greiner believes it was unfair to ask Independence to make a return trip.

“How can you expect a team from North Carolina to travel 75 miles again on a school night,” Greiner wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “A North Carolina team does not follow those rules. This is a no contest, until the game is made up. This makes 0 sense.”

It’s actually 95 miles each way, and that’s a key point.

Asking Independence to return on Saturday was a bit much.  In addition to the two round-trips, Independence athletics director Elijah Ashley would face a mountain of logistical obstacles with transportation and other travel issues – with very little time to do so.

To be fair, Butler High was forced to do much the same thing a few years ago at Richmond Senior High. A Friday night game was postponed, and the Bulldogs had to make the 75-mile trip on Saturday night.

But that’s asking a lot.

And, as Greiner noted, postponing the game to Monday night meant the Patriots would make a long trip on the night before the first day of school.

Classes started at Byrnes High weeks ago.

Officially, for the time being, Independence is 0-1.  That’s how the Patriots’ record appears on Maxpreps, at least.

It’s time for national officials to set comprehensive guidelines for weather delays.

In South Carolina, Byrnes is 1-0.

In North Carolina, Independence is 0-0.

That makes no sense.