Greene County and Gilbert will have an earlier than usual start time for their Class 3A District 2 football game in Gilbert tonight. Head football coach and Activities Director Mitch Moore told Raccoon Valley Radio that as of right now the start time for the varsity game is 6:45 p.m. There would still be a ninth grade game at 4:45 p.m. using a continuous clock.

Later this morning, depending on the weather, the start time for the varsity game could be moved up even further, so tune in to Raccoon Valley Radio and watch www.raccoonvalleyradio.com for updates. KG98 and raccoonvalleyradio.com. will have the varsity game play-by-play regardless of when it actually begins.

The Rams and Tigers have some things in common prior to tonight’s game on the artificial surface at Gilbert High School. Both teams are 1-5 overall and 1-3 in Class 3A District 2. Iowa Falls-Alden is the only team the Rams and the Tigers have wins over, and both have faced tough schedules. The six teams Gilbert has played have a combined 22-15 record, while the six teams the Rams have played are a combined 27-10 going into this week. Both like to throw the football, so weather could be a factor as there is a high probability of rain today, and there’s even a chance of thunderstorms around game time. The field at Gilbert is an artificial surface, so tearing up the field by playing in the rain isn’t an issue, but once lightning is within the area, all on-field activities are halted by rule for a minimum of 30 minutes. Additional lightning sightings starts the 30 minute wait from the beginning, so it’s a “rolling” 30 minutes that could turn into a much longer amount of time.

Mitch Moore is the head coach of the Rams. The coach was asked if keeping the players focused on football has been any kind of an issue. “Sometimes you worry about kids. Are they going to be packing it in and getting ready for basketball season. We haven’t seen any signs of that in practice this week, and that’s a good thing. Our kids came to work Saturday morning, they came to work at 5:50 a.m. Monday morning, and we had great Tuesday and Wednesday practices. We’re on the right track, we believe, of keeping our kids into this football game.”