Latrobe’s Friday Night Lights Steelers practice canceled after deluge of rain

For the third consecutive summer, Latrobe is without its Friday Night Lights.

This year’s Pittsburgh Steelers training camp practice at Latrobe Memorial Stadium was called off Friday because of inclement weather. Rain began in the area about 75 minutes before the scheduled 7 p.m. practice, and it picked up considerably at about 6:15. It didn’t let up through the announcement from the Steelers, which came via the team’s Twitter account at 6:53 p.m.

The 2020 and 2021 training camps were moved to Pittsburgh out of concerns related to covid.

Lightning was in the area, and fans at the stadium already had been asked to leave the stadium and return to their cars until it had been deemed safe. That “all-clear” never came, and the forecast did not appear favorable for conditions to let up.

Steelers players and coaches never left the Saint Vincent campus. A line of school buses was filled, but it did not depart as scheduled at 6:30. Defensive captain Cameron Heyward joked with coach Mike Tomlin to call off practice as he hurried to a bus in the rain at about 6:20 p.m.

In full pads for what is annually one of the most spirited practices of camp, the Steelers headed to Greater Latrobe High School to use the gym for an indoor walkthrough.

As the heavy rain fell, water pooled in low-lying areas of the Saint Vincent campus and on the practice fields where 17 of the 18 Steelers camp practices had been scheduled to take place.

Latrobe athletic director Zac Heide said he’d expected 15,000 fans at Friday Night Lights.

The Steelers return to practice at 1:55 p.m. Saturday at Saint Vincent.