Friday Night Lights are synonymous with high school football, but this year, the Woodside Wildcats football team will play multiple games on Thursdays, raising questions about how this affects the Wildcats’ season.
According to an ABC10 news segment, since the COVID-19 pandemic, high school sports across the country have faced a shortage of referees able to officiate games, such as football. Since this problem has arisen, football teams have been forced to play on Thursday or Saturday in order to accommodate the referee shortage. Woodside plays two games on Thursday this season, including their home opener on Sept. 11th, 2025.
“Typically, games are played on Friday, so that gives you Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to prep,” varsity football head coach Justin Andrews said. “When the game is [on] Thursday, that’s a whole day of things that we would be working on and fine-tuning that we miss out on.”
For the Wildcats, preparing for a game involves multiple factors. Conditioning, studying game tape, and preparing mentally are all aspects of a schedule that the football team follows in order to be successful on game day. However, the change in schedule brings new challenges for coaches.
“We’re still kind of figuring out this new normal, because this is something that every team has to go through, and every team has to make adjustments for,” Andrews said. “And again, try to make it be something that doesn’t negatively impact you.”
But the players are the ones who execute the plan on the field. And with less time to prepare, the execution can be rougher around the edges for the team.
“Because of [Thursday games], we definitely have less time to prepare for the other team. So we have to definitely change things on the fly more in the game instead of having a lot of stuff prepared beforehand,” junior defensive tackle Kevin Cowan said.
For Cowan and Andrews, while these changes are both surprising and unfavorable at times, it’s important to note that both teams must deal with this situation, not just the Wildcats.
“What we do schematically, especially on offense, it’s pretty tough to prepare for, and so teams losing that day of preparation, I think it works to their disadvantage more than ours,” Andrews said.
While the preparations for Thursday are one thing, gameday brings its own implications for the team.
“Friday Night Lights, there’s a certain, it’s hard to explain, but there’s a certain electricity that you feel in the air, that buzz before the game,” Andrews said. “It’s just different on Thursday, just knowing that it’s a regular school day and that you have school the next day. So sometimes we have to bring our own energy.”
The atmosphere of Thursday football games is noticeably different for Cowan and the Wildcats.
“[Fewer] people are likely to stay out and come to the games on Thursdays, which is a little disappointing, because, obviously, we want as much energy as possible,” Cowan said. “We love when people come to our games. It is way better to have Friday Night Lights; no one loves Thursday Night Lights.”
For Cowan and the rest of the team, the unusual schedule and environment of Thursday can cause players to need extra determination on the field and during practice.
“Let’s say we had a really hard week of practice on a Thursday game. By Thursday, we would be all sore and not be able to run 100%,” Cowan said. “Coach Andrews likes to tell us that he wants us bouncy on game day, [he] wants us at 100% on game day.”
For the Wildcats, the Thursday games may be difficult in some aspects, but the team finds ways to stay focused and on point.
“There’s a team that’s coming to beat us, and we want to beat them, and so that’s usually all the motivation [the team] needs,” Andrews said.
However, one of the most important aspects of Thursday games is the fact that football players have school the following day, leading to tiredness and soreness for players like Cowan.
“Coming to school the next day, [I’m] very tired, and it kind of hurts after jumping around. Normally, I like to sleep in after game days and rest a lot and stay off my feet,” Cowan said. “But going to school the next day is a rough day at school, and doing homework after a game is also rough.”
Thursday football games may have more cons than pros for high school coaches and players, but for Cowan, it’s important to note that there are still pros.
“We’re always happy to play, so any chance we get to play is a chance to have fun and win games,” Cowan said. “So even though it’s a Thursday game, we still love playing and [we’re] still out there trying hard.”
