High school football marred by increasing number of COVID-19 cancellations
Entering the last Friday night of the regular season, Kentucky’s high school football schedule has been radically altered by the coronavirus pandemic.
This week, more than half the usual slate of games has been canceled, most due to school districts being unwilling to let their teams play in or against teams from counties that are showing as “red” on the state’s daily COVID-19 incidence rate map.
A few teams, like Scott County, are sitting out this week in quarantine having reported an actual COVID-19 case or contact. Others, like Owensboro Catholic, are sitting out as a precaution worrying that a two-week quarantine due to a reported team COVID-19 contact this week would mean they could not play in the playoffs next week.
As of now, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association football playoffs remain scheduled. Postseasons have been completed in other fall sports with volleyball wrapping up this weekend.
And while teams have backed out of regular-season games over the “red” county issue, pandemic concerns are not expected to keep teams with serious playoff hopes from participating in the postseason.
Scheduling chaos
Woodford County has gone through scheduling upheaval almost every way possible this fall.
Like everyone else, three games were lost due to the late start necessitated by the global pandemic.
Two games were lost due to having a COVID-19 contact within the team forcing a two-week quarantine.
One game was lost because of a district decision not to play an opponent from a “red” county on the state’s COVID-19 incidence map.
One game was added late with details being worked out as late as 10 p.m. the day before
And one game was lost due to a storm that wouldn’t clear out that night.
“If it’s not because of COVID, now, we can’t play because of a dag-gone thunderstorm,” Woodford County Coach Dennis Johnson said, remembering the ridiculousness of it all.
Johnson tried to prepare himself for a pandemic season, running through myriad possibilities and contingencies last summer for how he would handle its uncertainty.
“I went through a whole bunch of different scenarios of how the season could go,” Johnson said. “I didn’t think we’d have to experience all of them, but we’ve experienced almost everything.”
This Friday, the COVID-19 map might prevent Woodford from being able to play its final district matchup with West Jessamine as both counties have stayed in the “red” over the last week.
Johnson is hoping Woodford at least drops out of the red so it can line up someone else to play Friday as a final playoffs tuneup.
Woodford (3-2) hasn’t hosted a playoff game since 2007 and hasn’t won one since 2002. Last season’s 6-5 mark was the first winning season under Johnson in his fifth year. Despite the pandemic, the Yellow Jackets are making progress.
“We’ve got a good team, and I’m relatively young, too. A lot of the kids you see this year will be back next year, so I think our culture and our program is really turning around,” Johnson said. “I knew I had the potential to have a really good team this year. And so, you know, we just want to play.”
The cancellation of Friday’s district game won’t hurt Woodford, because the KHSAA has ruled that any canceled district games that would otherwise help set playoff seeds would be credited as a win for the team with the highest RPI at regular season’s end. Woodford’s Ratings Percentage Index is higher than West Jessamine’s, so it would get the No. 2 seed behind Madison Southern in Class 5A’s 7th District.
Long layoff
Frederick Douglass, Lexington’s Class 5A powerhouse, won’t fare as well in that scenario. Two of its district games, Scott County and Great Crossing, were canceled over COVID-19 concerns. And the twice-canceled game with the unbeaten Cardinals gives Scott County’s No. 3 RPI team the home-field edge over No. 8 Douglass.
Frederick Douglass has also missed games due to teams who refused to play them when Fayette was in a red status.
The Broncos have been willing to play anyone, red status or not, they just can’t find any takers. That made improving their RPI difficult with a season-opening loss to Class 6A’s No. 2 North Hardin the Broncos’ only blemish.
“There’s nothing I can really do about it,” Douglass Coach Nathan McPeek said. “We tried to play as many games as some other teams, it just hasn’t worked out for a lot of reasons either COVID-related or, obviously, competition-based — that has a lot to do with it because, obviously, we have a lot of good talent and we’re a good program, so I think maybe that has a little bit to do with it as well, unfortunately.”
When the playoffs begin next week, Douglass will have gone more than a month without taking a competitive snap. Worse, only two of the five games it has played have been competitive. District foe Grant County gave up a mercy-rule inducing 36 points before the first quarter was over back on Oct. 1. And Montgomery County gave up 29 points when the big storm hit and decided to call it a game after less than a quarter.
“We knew it was going to be different with all the rules and a pandemic occurring, but I would have never thought that we’d have only played four games and a quarter,” McPeek said. “That’s kind of disheartening for our kids. I hate it for seniors. You know, obviously, last year’s spring sports got completely canceled, so it’s not as bad as what those kids had to deal with. But it’s not been an easy road for us. Most teams have gotten a chance to play seven, eight, nine games. We haven’t and that’s unfortunate.”
This week, St. Xavier decided to call off its game at Douglass out of concern about protecting itself for the playoffs. Without a competitive game, McPeek said he and his staff have a plan to prepare his team as best they can for the postseason.
“There’s going to be some things we’re not sharp on, you know, with tackling and blocking and there’s going to be some rust there where you’re not playing week after week,” McPeek said. “It’s football. It’s not something you just show up and do. So, that’s concerning. But, hopefully, we can have those small, segmented pieces of practice and get that piece down to be able to play and, hopefully, play well. I think our kids will be ready to go.”
