ECU-NC A&T postponed due to lightning; will be played Sunday

Teams will open their season at 3:30 p.m. in Greenville

Eamon Queeney—North State Journal
The defense and offense stretch on the field before the East Carolina Purple and Gold spring football game at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville

GREENVILLE, N.C. — North Carolina A&T and East Carolina’s season-opening football game was postponed by one day because of two lightning delays on Saturday.

A second lightning delay before the opening kickoff led officials to push the game to Sunday, with the kickoff at 3:30 p.m.

The first delay on Saturday occurred 24 minutes before the scheduled 6 p.m. kickoff. The all-clear was given at 7:17 p.m. and the 30-minute countdown began, but three minutes before the kickoff — after the national anthem and as the captains were headed to midfield for the coin toss — lightning flashed again. After 35 minutes of a lightning show, the rain began at 8:21 p.m. and with the downpour continuing past 9, the decision to postpone came at 9:08.