Union’s 2023 Homecoming royalty including Queen Sydney Anton, left, and King Mason Mullen pictured in the high school main gym on Friday, Sept. 22 shortly after their coronation and several hours before wicked weather would delay and then cancel the evening’s football game. PHOTO COURTESY OF UNION SCHOOLS/FACEBOOK

LA PORTE CITY – A steady barrage of lightning led to a delay and eventual rescheduling to Monday of the Union Knights’ homecoming game against Prairie City-Monroe last Friday night.

Prior to the game’s 7:30 p.m. kickoff in Union Stadium, the district elected to cancel the freshman/sophomore game that was set for 5 p.m. due to heavy rain in the forecast, while also canceling altogether the marching band’s performance later that evening.

As the clock approached varsity game time, however, thunder and lightning continued to boom and blaze across the sky while rain fell in increasingly heavier amounts.

With the game in delay, Union’s dance team – scheduled to perform just prior to the varsity game – took to the nearby gym floor, giving spectators both a performance and a dry space to sit while the delay clock ticked on.

Around 8:15 p.m., the skies over La Porte City erupted in a torrential rainstorm, creating temporary pools of standing water on both the roads and in the ditches.

Shortly thereafter, the game was postponed to Monday, Sept. 25 with a tentative start time of 6 p.m.

The JV game against Grundy Center that had been previously set for Monday in Union Stadium was subsequently canceled.

Earlier on Friday afternoon during a pep rally held at the high school, Mason Mullen and Sydney Anton were crowned the 2023 Homecoming King and Queen, respectively, by the Union High School student body.

Meanwhile on Friday, in neighboring Benton County, a EF-U (Unknown) tornado was confirmed on the ground some three miles north of Blairstown around 5:45 p.m. Thankfully, the path of the tornado was short-lived with no damage or injuries recorded.

Rain totals reported to the National Weather Service from Friday evening’s storms included 2.76 inches roughly five miles north-northwest of La Porte, as well as 1.51 inches reported three miles north of Dysart.

Refer to next week’s paper for coverage of Monday’s rescheduled Union-PCM District 6 game which the Knights lost, 49-21.

This Friday, Union is back on the road, playing Jesup (2-3) in another District 6 pairing. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. It is the J-Hawks’ Homecoming Week.