Friday night’s winner? Winter

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Updated: February 23, 2012 8:19AM

The snowstorm that hit the Chicago area wiped out much of Friday’s high school schedule in the Southland.

Among the postponed games were a showdown between No. 5 Crete-Monee and Rich South and a battle for the SouthWest Suburban Red lead between No. 1 Andrew and Thornwood.

Mount Carmel coach Mike Flaherty’s next chance for his 700th career win also will have to wait, as the Caravan’s meeting with Providence was postponed.

For Sandburg and Joliet West, a key battle to stay in the SouthWest Suburban Blue race will lose the atmosphere of a Friday night showdown as the game has been rescheduled for 5 p.m. Monday in Orland Park.

“We found out at about 1:30 or 2 that we weren’t going to play,” Sandburg coach Todd Allen said. “I think we all had it in the back of our minds that it was a possibility.

“I think our kids will be able to get pumped up for a big conference game Monday. It’ll definitely be a different atmosphere, though. I can’t remember the last time we played a home game on a Monday.”

Still, Allen is happy to get the game made up sooner than later.

“We were very happy to set it up for Monday,” he said. “We prepared for Joliet West all week and now we get to continue that preparation instead of having to play another game and having to switch gears to another opponent.”

One coach thankful not to have to deal with a schedule shake-up is Richards coach John Chappetto, whose team was not slated to play Friday.

“We had our scheduled bye in conference and we tried to find a game for (Friday),” he said. “Thank God we didn’t find anything, because it probably would have been postponed.

“Last year, we had a game with Rich East postponed and we ended up losing two days of practice for the Reavis game, then lost that. This type of stuff can mess with your season, so we got lucky.”

For Chappetto, driving home in the storm Friday was quite a different experience from a week ago, when he and the Bulldogs were in Florida playing in a tournament in Miami.

“Last week, at this very time, I was on a school bus with all the windows down headed to a game in Miami,” he said. “I was telling my coaches ‘This really feels like August’. What a difference a week makes.”