Tropical Storm Nicole forces high school football playoff games to be moved up

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Power crews are on stand-by to respond to any power outages that may happen during the storm.

Nicole also forced some high schools to move up their playoff football games.

"We like Friday Night Football, but player safety is most important," said Jeff Dunbar, athletics director at Wake Forest HS. "Things just lined up to move things up earlier."

The Cougars and Pride of Leesville Road played Thursday night in Wake Forest in the second round of the playoffs.

Umbrellas opened up in the stands in the middle of the second quarter. The band also had to pack up its gear because of the drizzle Thursday.

"He was getting ready the night before and getting his mind together," said Dexter Grant, whose son Deshaun scored a touchdown right in front of him.

Ten miles south of the football game, Duke Energy has one of its main staging areas off Capital Boulevard.

If your power is out during the storm and you live in Downtown Raleigh or north in Wake Forest, the truck will likely come from there.

They were examining their gear and trucks and ensuring everyone is well rested for Friday.

The company is helped by a new kind of technology that allows them to detect outages as they're happening, which Duke Energy used during Ian.

During that storm, they were able to restore 100,000 customers automatically and they saved 850,000 hours of time that would've been dedicated to crews working to restore power.

"We are so excited, our Cougar family is amazing, and we just couldn't wait to be out here to support our players," said Chris Williams, whose son Zane was competing Thursday.

The Cougars won and will face the winner of Cleveland and Rolesville High School, which is scheduled for Friday, but the game will likely be moved to another day.