Madison County football set for first home game after Hurricane Idalia

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - Two weeks ago, Hurricane Idalia made landfall in the Big Bend of Florida. Along with countless people who were without power, some lost their homes, and athletic facilities weren’t spared either.

At Madison County High School, Boot Hill’s scoreboard and other signage was damaged, but the Cowboys have stood strong, and they’re ready to make their return to their home field this Friday night.

“Our community’s been hurting, and we know that,” said head coach Price Harris. “This gives them a chance to kind of forget about all their worries and just worry about the Cowboys.”

Friday night, the Madison County Cowboys will get to return home to Boot Hill after the damage from Hurricane Idalia that left Cowboy Nation with questions on if they’d be able to play on their field again this season. With the help of the community and the FHSAA, they will get to pack Boot Hill under the lights this week.

“It means everything to this community,” said Harris. “We’re excited about being able to play at home. Our kids love being able to defend Boot Hill. It’s been such an honor to play here.”

The process to get here took a lot of work. Coach Harris has to drive about three hours to Georgia this week in order to get a temporary scoreboard to use this season. They have had to use metal detectors to make sure that the field is safe, which it is.

This field means so much and it’s got so much history, and to see us kind of where we’re having to rebuild,” he said. “It’s OK. I mean it’s just stuff. I mean stuff can be replaced. People can’t.”

Although the scoreboard on Friday night will not have the words Boot Hill written on top of it, the fact that they have a scoreboard that they’ll be able to use on their home field to be able to play another game here is what really matters, because it took a community and a village to make it happen.

Madison County hosts Columbia on Friday. Kick-off is at 7:30.

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