Perhaps there is a return to normalcy in Western Pennsylvania high school football this year, but COVID-19 is still forcing the cancellation of a few games.
Hopewell High School announced Thursday that its game at Blackhawk Friday has been canceled. Hopewell athletic director Don Short said it is because of COVID-19 and injuries.
“It’s more injuries and some COVID,” Short said. “We do not have enough healthy bodies to cover positions.”
This is the fourth Friday game involving a WPIAL school that has been canceled. Beaver High School announced Wednesday that its game at Central Valley was canceled “due to multiple COVID-19 cases within the Beaver Area football team,” Beaver athletic director Alan Alcalde said in an e-mail.
Riverview canceled its game at Chartiers-Houston because of COVID-19 cases on the Riverview team. Butler pulled out of its game at Erie because of cases on the Butler team.
Butler is in the WPIAL for all sports except football. Butler pulled out of the WPIAL after the 2019 season and plays a District 10 schedule.
WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said last week that the league will not make teams forfeit regular-season games that are canceled because of COVID-19 situations. The league wants teams to reschedule the games, if possible, especially if they are conference games. But the Riverview vs. Chartiers-Houston and Beaver vs. Central Valley games Friday are non-conference games and won’t be rescheduled.
Scheuneman said the WPIAL will re-examine the situation with postponed games in all sports after a few weeks of the fall season. Last year, any teams not playing postseason games because of COVID-19 situations had to forfeit the games, whether it was the WPIAL or PIAA playoffs.
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh.
First Published: September 1, 2021, 7:49 p.m.
