Kent State calls off double-OT field hockey game so football team can launch fireworks

In NCAA athletics, the prevailing belief is that football is king and everything else comes second. The Kent State athletic department did little to dispel that notion on Saturday.

A field hockey game between No. 24 Maine and Temple went into double overtime at 0-0 at Kent State’s Murphy-Mellis Field. According to Maine’s Twitter account, the Kent State administration then delivered some awkward news:

Per Maine, the game will be classified as an exhibition and won’t affect either team’s stats or record.

Incredibly enough, Maine and Temple field hockey weren’t even playing on the same field as Kent State football. Murphy-Mellis Field is simply adjacent to Kent State’s Dix Stadium, but that was apparently too much of a hindrance for the football team.

The story got even more absurd when Maine field hockey player Riley Field claimed on Twitter that the reason Kent State called the game off was so it could launch fireworks at noon.

Maine will soon be back in action on Sunday, when it plays, surprise, Kent State. The Black Bears might have a chip on their shoulder for that one.

But at least Kent State was able to play its football game with no delays and all the fireworks it wanted.

The Golden Flashes eked out a 26-23 win over FCS Kennesaw State in a game that ... went into overtime. Good thing there wasn’t a nearby soccer game scheduled for 4 p.m. that day.

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