High school football coaches dealing with COVID-19 problems just want kids to play
A week after being forced to forfeit due to COVID-19 protocols, Bourbon County’s high school football team was back at practice and ready to host a Friday night bowl event doubleheader.
As last week’s cancellation was announced, Bourbon Coach David Jones used the moment to offer a forceful push for people to get vaccinated against the virus.
“Y’all want to play sports(,) get vaccinated!! That simple!!!” Jones posted on Twitter on Aug. 26. He followed up with another post. “Guess what(?) I don’t have to Quarantine(.) why? I’m Vaccinated!”
Jones acknowledged some pushback in the community.
“Just a little bit,” Jones said. “Not much. I actually had more positive (comments) than I expected. It wasn’t crazy, crazy, but some just wanted to question my motives — that I didn’t care about the kids, but I was just being blunt and honest. … You would think I’m for the kids. Heck, I got vaccinated.”
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association has maintained its protocols regarding cases and contacts of COVID-19 within a team just as they were a year ago with one major difference — players and coaches who are vaccinated and who do not show symptoms after an exposure do not have to be quarantined. For everyone else, it’s a minimum 10 days away from the team and at least 21 days out if you contract the virus.
The vaccination stipulation has allowed many teams in all sports to continue to play games even with a few players out.
“The difference between last year and this year, we have a voice, and we have a say so if we’re vaccinated,” Jones said. “Last year we’d just have to quit everything.”
Still, there have been a number of COVID-19 cancellations this season, including at least 19 football games this week (as of Thursday) as teams find coronavirus cases and contacts so pervasive within the team that they don’t have enough players outside of quarantine to safely take the field. Bourbon had a few cases and a lot of contacts within its team last week. The contacts have since been cleared to play.
On the other side of the cancellations are teams who’ve been left without an opponent and have had to scramble to find a game.
Pulaski Coach John Hines brought his Maroons in as a late-week replacement opponent for Lexington Catholic last week. This week, Pulaski is subbing in again to play Boyle County. Pulaski had been set to face Lincoln County. Boyle was supposed to battle Danville in their annual Title Town rivalry. The Admirals and Rebels are expected to reschedule.
For Hines, though, trying to make sure his team has an opponent and is ready for that opponent each week has made for a difficult fall.
“It has been bizarre, It really has,” Hines said. “It’s been no sleep. As a coach you go through all the things that you do to prepare over the weekend for the upcoming opponent so that you’re ready when practice starts on Monday. And then you find out Monday night you’re not playing that team. You can throw all that in the trash can and start over if you can find a (new) opponent.”
The last-minute reschedulings have arguably made Pulaski’s schedule more difficult with Lexington Catholic and Boyle County being two of the best teams in Class 4A. The Maroons already had another top 4A team on the schedule in Corbin.
“I don’t want our kids to miss out on a chance of playing a game,” Hines said. “They work so hard in the offseason. They work so hard in the spring and summer all for those 10 football games in the fall.
“And for us to sit back and say, well, somebody canceled, we’re not gonna have a game. Well, you know, that’s not fair to the kids. They want to play football.”
While the new rules on COVID-19 cancellations make the game a forfeit for the virus-affected team, the forfeit can be wiped from the schedule if the team is able to reschedule another game with any opponent to replace the forfeit before the regular season is out. Many teams have open weeks in their schedule and will be able to do that. But Hines said that will become more difficult as those open dates pass by and the end of the season draws close.
“When you get to district play, that’s going to be an interesting dynamic,” Hines said.
The KHSAA estimated that last year, about 25 percent of its games across all sports were canceled due to COVID-19 problems. This fall’s pace has been slower and probably aided by the forfeit rule. About 16.8 percent of football games have been canceled in three weeks this season. The percentage has been far lower in the KHSAA’s other fall sports.
Bourbon County hosts Harrison County at 8 p.m. in the second game of their bowl event Friday. The first game features Frankfort vs. Sayre at 6 p.m. Pulaski plays at Boyle County at 7:30 p.m.
