The lights at Islander Stadium will be dark this Thursday night. The game, set for Thursday evening, has been canceled. Thanks to some unfortunate timing, the Mercer Island football team will play only eight games this season, one less than usual.

The Islanders were originally scheduled to play a non-conference opponent this Friday, but after the original team wasn’t available, the Islanders started looking for a new team to play.

Making things more complicated, the observance of Yom Kippur, which begins on the evening of Sept. 13, would have moved this week’s game to either Thursday, Sept. 12, or Saturday, Sept. 14. Unfortunately, this close to the beginning of the season, few teams were available on Friday, let alone available to play on a Thursday or Saturday during the regular season.

Mercer Island will play its first home game on Friday, Sept. 20 — homecoming — against Lake Washington.

There will be just three home games this year.

For more, go to www.mercerislandschools.org.