The Red Carpet Bowl is back to being a doubleheader.

Porters Chapel Academy will not participate in the annual kickoff to Warren County’s high school football season next season, after the game’s organizers expressed concerns about the safety of playing a game in the late afternoon August heat.

PCA made its first Red Carpet Bowl appearance in 2014 when it faced Union Christian. The game began at 3 p.m. as temperatures approached 100 degrees, and cramping and dehydration plagued players throughout.

The general discomfort of all involved led to a mutual agreement between the Red Carpet Bowl committee and PCA’s administration to drop the Eagles from the game’s lineup, RCB chairman Gary Anderton said at this week’s committee meeting.

“We all saw it. A lot of us were sitting there with baited breath hoping nothing would happen,” Anderton said. “Late afternoon in August, it was very evident that it was very hard on them.”

PCA athletic director Wade Patrick said he understood the Red Carpet Bowl committee’s concern.

“We were in agreement that we didn’t want to put our players in that predicament,” Patrick said. “It was something we agree with. It’s not worth it in the long run to play a game at that time of day.”

The 2014 Red Carpet Bowl marked the first time in 20 years that the event was a tripleheader. Similar concerns about playing a day game in summer temperatures led St. Aloysius to drop out in the early 1990s.

The 2015 Red Carpet Bowl is scheduled for Aug. 21 at Warren Central. Harrison Central and Vicksburg High will play the opening game at 6 p.m., followed by Warren Central vs. Wayne County at 8:30.

At its meeting Tuesday night, the RCB committee didn’t rule out bringing PCA back into the fold at some point.

A Thursday night game is a possibility, although it would be logistically difficult to split the Red Carpet Bowl into two days. Volunteer workers are already taxed by what is a 14-hour work day on game day.

The two-year schedule cycle also makes it hard to find an opponent — particularly among small schools that depend on football revenue to fund other programs — willing to give up a home game.

PCA’s 2014 Red Carpet game against Union Christian replaced a PCA home game. An effort to move their 2013 meeting from Farmerville, La., to Vicksburg failed.

PCA is scheduled to open the 2015 season on the road against St. Andrew’s of the MHSAA, and will host St. Andrew’s for the 2016 opener. Patrick said he was open to playing in the Red Carpet Bowl again, but he didn’t expect it to be an option until 2017 at the earliest.

“For this year and for probably the next two, we won’t play. Unless there’s something we could do with that St. Andrew’s game. Either find a different team, or move it to Thursday, something like that,” Patrick said.

Although PCA won’t be part of the Red Carpet football game for the foreseeable future, it will continue to participate in the Red Carpet Basketball Classic in January — and next season it’ll rekindle a rivalry with St. Aloysius.

PCA and St. Al will tip off the daylong basketball event by playing the first two games against each other. They played annually from 2009 to 2013 before taking a break the past two seasons.

The PCA-St. Al game was a unique matchup that drew large, lively crowds. Anderton said he was happy to see the rivalry return.

“It has to help a little bit with the gate. But we just like seeing as much of this community involved in the Red Carpet Bowl events as possible,” Anderton said. “Porters Chapel and St. Al families are as much a part of it as anybody else. I just like seeing the stands packed with people who might not otherwise be there.”

The Red Carpet Basketball Classic is scheduled for Jan. 23, 2016, at Warren Central. It will feature six games — all boys-girls doubleheaders — beginning at 10 a.m.

After PCA and St. Al square off, Vicksburg will face Northwest Rankin and Warren Central will play Madison Central.