Gators might live in a swamp, but this time they’re going to avoid the muck and the mire.

With heavy rain and thunderstorms in the forecast for Friday evening, Vicksburg High football coach Marcus Rogers said the team’s game with Holmes County Central will be moved up a day to Thursday. Kickoff is still set for 7 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.

“It’s supposed to be thunderstorms, but not severe, from 3 or 4 in the afternoon (Friday) all the way through midnight. We just decided to go ahead and get it done and out of the way,” Rogers said.

Nearly two dozen games across Mississippi have been moved to Thursday in an effort to beat the weather.

Warren Central and Callaway will still play Friday night in Jackson, although the venue has been changed from Hughes Field to North Jackson Field. Warren Central coach Josh Morgan said a move was considered, but the decision was ultimately made to keep the game where it was.

St. Aloysius’ playoff game at Silliman Institute will also be played on Friday.

Rogers said a shift to Saturday was considered for the Vicksburg vs. Holmes game, but there were too many logistical issues and schedule conflicts to work out. The rain is also forecast to linger through the day on Saturday.

“It made more sense to do it Thursday. You have people doing other things, you have to get police and people to work the game, things like that that are hard to move around,” Rogers said.

While the decision was made around lunchtime Wednesday, only about 30 hours before kickoff, Rogers added that the schedule change wouldn’t affect his team’s practice plans for a crucial game.

Vicksburg (5-5, 2-4 Region 2-5A) needs to beat Holmes County Central (6-4, 3-3), and have Grenada (8-2, 6-0) beat Neshoba Central (3-8, 2-4) in order to secure the fourth and final playoff berth in Region 2-5A. If the Gators do reach the postseason, they’ll go on the road to play Oxford in a first-round game next Friday.

“It doesn’t affect us at all, because you’re at the part of the season where you’re doing more of the mental than the physical. For the most part, everybody’s banged up this time of year. So you’re not going as hard in practice,” Rogers said.

Holmes County Central at Vicksburg

Thursday, 7 p.m.

Radio: 1490 AM

Online: For live scoring updates on Friday night, visit Facebook.com/thevicksburgpost or Twitter.com/vicksburgpost

At stake: Vicksburg can clinch a berth in the Class 5A playoffs with a win and a Grenada victory over Neshoba Central. Holmes will clinch one with a win.