The Freeport football team was supposed to host Bozeman on Friday night. South Walton was supposed to host Rutherford. Only nine days removed from the landfall of Hurricane Michael, neither the Bucks nor the Rams — like so many other schools from the Panama City area — are ready to play football again. Some might not play football again until next fall. It seems trivial given the damages sustained and the losses suffered, but that left a lot of holes on schedules across the Panhandle as the 2018 season heads into its final three weeks, including what was left off the seasons of both South Walton and Freeport. The opening gave Seahawk coach Phil Tisa and Bulldog coach Shaun Arntz an idea. “It was an idea that we had started throwing together toward the end of last week,” Tisa said. “Really it started out with just getting a game ’cause we didn’t know where we’d be, especially us with the rest of our schedule being Port St. Joe, Rutherford and Bozeman and them having Bozeman on their schedule. “It started out that way and then we were like, ‘Well, what can we do with this to help?’ It just kind of blossomed from there.” The Seahawks will host the Bulldogs at 7 p.m. Friday night in Santa Rosa Beach in a game that’s free to the public. South Walton will waive admission fees and will instead encourage fans to donate at the gates with all proceeds going toward the relief efforts in Panama City. “I think we can do more with letting people give what they can give than just living with a $6 entry fee,” Tisa said. “We will take monetary donations. We’ll also have a trailer set up inside the gate to collect cleaning supplies, hygiene products, the things those people need on a daily basis over there.” Per FHSAA rules, games added to a team’s schedule after that schedule has been submitted prior to the season will not count toward a team’s playoff resume, though Tisa said the FHSAA will waive its minimum eight-game qualifier for teams unable to finish out their schedules. As it stands, South Walton (3-4) ranks fifth in the latest Region 1-4A Power Rankings with 33.14 points, though the Seahawks trail third-place Rutherford by 0.72 points. Freeport (3-3) ranks dead last in the Region 1-1A Power Rankings, tied with Chipley at 31.50 points, though the FHSAA announced Thursday it plans to expand the Region 1-1A and Region 2-1A playoff brackets from six team to eight teams to accommodate for the games lost to Hurricane Michael. Although Friday’s contest amounts to a glorified scrimmage, Arntz said both schools are treating the game like the “County Championship” after both schools beat county rival Walton earlier in the year, and he expects a big crowd. He and Tisa have invited players, coaches and families from affected areas to come to South Walton on Friday to escape their troubles for at least a little while. “I think when you put that tag on it that we’re gonna donate all proceeds, that draws even more people out,” Arntz said. “Whether it was under normal circumstances or not, it’s gonna be an amazing atmosphere. It always is when we play them at their place.” Said Tisa: “We’re very fortunate, especially where we’re located. It was so close that it could have been us. If it wouldn’t have turned in that last hour before landfall this could have been us. “We get to use a sport that we love and means so much to us to help other people out.”