PREP KICKOFF 2020: Gametime arrives with doubts still present
The 2020 high school football season is expected to open this Thursday but players will be required to follow protocol to protect them from COVID-19. All players will be required to wear masks when not on the field of play. Players include (bottom L-R) Deontae Hester of Autaugaville, Terrence Reed of Jeff Davis, (top L-R) Cole Bender of St. James and Coby Mann of Elmore County. (Photo edited by Leigh Anne Butler)
By GRAHAM DUNN
NOTE: The 2020 high school football season opens this week. River Region Sports will present features leading up to the games on Thursday and Friday. Today, we look at the affects of COVID-19 and the possibilities of a shut down that still exist.
Robert E. Lee coach Eric Hudson admitted there was plenty of concern about the start of the high school football season.
But the reasons weren’t as obvious as one might think.
The second-year head coach had watched as his players completed workouts in the heat for more than two months and there was still a chance his team might not open the season next Friday at Daphne.
“I think we’ve all had a little doubt in our mind,” he said. “It’s always there while you are out on the field.”
The 2020 season will open as scheduled on Thursday with several games across the River Region. The games will be played with several stipulations to guard against the spread of COVID-19, including a limitation of fans in the stands, mask requirements for just about everyone not playing in the game and spreading out teams on the sidelines.
“I’m not sure how that will go over,” said Wetumpka coach Tim Perry, whose team will open Friday against Prattville in the AHSAA Kickoff Challenge at Cramton Bowl.
“It will be difficult to keep their distance on the sidelines. It’s hard as coaches how we are trying to explain it because we aren’t 100 percent sure how this would work.”
The fact that games will be played overshadows any obstacles players and coaches might have for the first weekend. There was a time that a start to the season was almost out of the question with cases of coronavirus on the rise and state and local officials limiting travel and gatherings.
Only two weeks ago, the city school coaches and athletic directors were summoned to the Montgomery Public School offices in downtown Montgomery only to have the impromptu meeting cancelled at the last minute.
Prior to the cancellation, Hudson was concerned that the meeting might bring an end to the season or at least no chance of playing at Cramton Bowl, the city venue.
“We heard the rumors,” he said. “(Coaches) were calling about moving a game to their field. I didn’t know what they were talking about.”
Sidney Lanier coach Marvin Cunningham had similar concerns. He also heard the rumors. But a meeting between the city and the AHSAA ended the idea.
At least for the moment.
“Take it one day at a time,” Cunningham said. “That’s what we are preaching. No promises about tomorrow so go out and work hard today.”
Coaches have spent the summer with one eye on the field and another on their cell phones wondering if the call would come that might cancel the season - or at least postpone the start.
“I don’t have a problem if we bump (the start) back a little bit,” new Park Crossing coach L.C. Cole said. “Maybe see what might happen. There are some things that aren’t clear.”
Cole might have ulterior motives. He arrived late and hasn’t had as much time with his new team as others.
“I got the job in the spring and didn’t get to have practice,” he explained. “We’ve been out two times with (virus) spikes. I haven’t really had a chance to feel these guys out. But having that experience would have been better for us.”
Teams have spent as much time working on protocol as they have on offense and defensive schemes. Coaches are learning their proper way to tell players what they are allowed to do while on the sideline.
And social distancing is another matter.
“We talked about it, tried to implement the game management as far as the sideline,” Perry said. “We are working toward trying to get our players to recognize that social distancing has to be practiced on the sideline. I’m not sure how that will go over. It will be difficult to keep their distance.”
Coaching staffs have done what they could to keep parents informed as far as following protocol, which consists of the use of masks, sterilizing equipment on a regular basis and using social distancing.
Yet, some parents chose to keep their child out of action.
“I had a couple where they told me they didn’t think it was safe,” Hudson said. “I have lost some good players but we understand. If they are uncomfortable with their young men playing, it’s perfectly acceptable to hold them out.”
Perry has kept parents updated through social media and with several ways to get direct communication with the Wetumpka coaching staff.
“We learned early on that the key was if this would be successful was to provide the parents as much information as we could, not just written but social media and video,” Perry said. “We have videoed the coaches as we go through screening. Players reporting outside the field house and taking temperature, showing they all have their own water bottles, everyone wearing masks. The Wetumpka fire department has sanitized the weight room, locker room and field house. It kills anything on the surface for 10 days.”
Local games have already been affected by the virus. Stanhope Elmore lost its opener against Selma due to the Saint’s program not meeting AHSAA COVID requirements. But the game was quickly replaced with a meeting with Opelika.
Marbury also lost its opener but got Charles Henderson to replace Montevallo.
Autaugaville coach Javaris Jackson entered the first week of the season having already lost his opener against RC Hatch. He also lost his games with Barbour County, Francis Marion and late last week, he learned that Ellwood Christian cancelled all fall sports, leaving him with five open dates.
“I was able to get Central-Coosa to replace one of those,” Jackson said of the game, which will be played on Sept. 18.
How long the season lasts is anyone’s guess. Most coaches believe there will be some type of interruption for most teams. But there is no real way to prepare.
“You have to go full speed,” Cunningham said. “I tell them you have to be prepared to play and not let that be a distraction. We get to play football and for how long we don’t know but hopefully we will get in the full season.”
COMING TUESDAY - Robert E. Lee’s Anquin Barnes leads the top prospects in the River Region (Dandy Dozen)