Benicia High's Playoff Basketball Game Gets Bounced By the Winter Ball Dance

A Benicia High basketball playoff game that was supposed to be played Friday night has been moved to Monday because of a school dance that will be take place in the gym Friday night. 

But here’s the rub: Monday is Presidents Day, and there will be no school.

When the scheduling conflict first arose, there were talks of moving the game to the middle school or playing it early Friday afternoon so that the gym could be cleared out in time for the Winter Ball to be set up.

Benicia High’s athletic director said that a move to the middle school would take away Benicia’s home-court advantage, especially when you consider that much of the home crowd would be at the dance, rather than at the game cheering on the team.

“This is the first time they’ve been in the playoffs in a long time,” said Karl Barrett, a parent of a Benicia High player. “We have a chance to do pretty good this year.”

As it turns out, the game won’t be played at the middle school after all, but it will be played on a day in which there is no school, which could have a major effect on attendance. Monday marks the end of a three-day holiday weekend.

“It seems that basketball plays third fiddle,” said Barrett, who wondered if the dance would have been rescheduled if this was a football or baseball playoff game.

The game will be played at 7 p.m. Monday against No. 19 Hiram Johnson High School. The last time the Benicia Panther boys made the playoffs was the 2008-09 season, where the team was eliminated in the first round by Vacaville's Will C Wood.

What do you think of the scheduling conflict?