Coe’s first night football game at home washed out by weather

CEDAR RAPIDS — Weather prevented Coe's first night home football game at Clark Field from even getting started.

Now, the 129th meeting between the Kohawks and rival Cornell College will be a rare Sunday college football contest.

Lightning that accompanied persistent rain forced a delay and the eventual postponement of Saturday night's game. Coe (0-1) will host the Rams (1-0) Sunday at 5 p.m.

Teams were pulled off the field with 25 minutes left of warm-ups. The announcement to push back the game was made at 8:15 p.m., which was 75 minutes after the scheduled kickoff.

'It's disappointing,' Coe Coach Tyler Staker said. 'If it wasn't a late start that got pushed to 9 or 9:30 the guys aren't going to get off the field until Sunday morning at that point. I don't think that is in the best interest of our players at Coe and Cornell.'

The series between Coe and Cornell dates back to 1891 and is the longest college football rivalry west of the Mississippi River. School officials couldn't confirm if the contest had been postponed but it was not held in 1895, 1896, 1899, 1943 and 1944 — the last two canceled because of World War II,

Cornell Coach Vince Brautigam has never had to deal with this situation.

'You can't control the weather,' said Brautigam, who is in his 26th season as a head coach and 10th with the Rams. 'It's a good thing we have a bye week the next week, so we'll redo it again (Sunday).'

Coe has won 19 straight games against Cornell. The Kohawks own a 72-50-4 all-time advantage.

l Comments: (319) 368-8679; kj.pilcher@thegazette.com