Concerns about weather Saturday evening have prompted many high schools to shift the start times of the first games of the 2015 season to earlier in the afternoon.
Around 60 games that had been scheduled to start at 7 p.m. will instead be played Saturday afternoon, according to postings Friday on the Minnesota State High School League's Facebook page.
On Saturday afternoon and evening, a strong cold front will sweep across Minnesota and into Wisconsin. The storm should pass through the Twin Cities after 7 p.m.
The weather service's alert online says that severe storms are possible especially west of Interstate 35, with the main threats being large hail and damaging winds. On Twitter, @NWSTwinCities warned of fast-moving storms that will likely bring high winds, heavy rain and the threat of tornadoes.
Officials cited safety of fans and players for the time changes. High school league rules requires games to be halted when lightning approaches. Games cannot resume until 30 minutes after the last lightning strike.
A rematch of last season's Class 6A championship game between Eden Prairie and Totino-Grace remains scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Fridley-based school, said Jan Thomas, administrative assistant to athletic director Mike Smith.
Among the games involving metro-area teams with new start times:
White Bear Lake at Rosemount, noon
East Ridge at Lakeville North, 1 p.m.
Woodbury at Eastview, 1 p.m.
Hill-Murray at Tartan, 1 p.m.
North St. Paul at South St. Paul, 2 p.m.
Moorhead at St. Michael-Albertville, 2 p.m.
Bemidji at St. Francis, 2 p.m.
Farmington at Mounds View, 3 p.m.
Bloomington Jefferson at Cooper, 3 p.m.
Roseville at Burnsville, 4 p.m.
To see a full list of games and their start times, go to the Star Tribune Football Hub at mnfootballhub.com and click on the schedule/results tab.