Although high school sports are pretty much back to normal in Western Pennsylvania this school year, COVID-19 is still having an effect on teams and forcing cancellations of games.
A handful of WPIAL football games were canceled during the first four weeks of the season, but three games are off this Friday and the status of a fourth is still up in the air.
Games canceled Friday in the WPIAL are Seneca Valley at Norwin in Class 6A, Derry at Freeport in Class 3A and Serra at Carlynton in Class 2A. The games were all canceled because of positive COVID tests at Norwin, Derry and Carlynton.
The status of the North Hills at Woodland Hills Class 5A game, set for Friday, has not been determined. After one player tested positive at Woodland Hills, the game definitely won’t be played Friday. But Woodland Hills has asked North Hills about the possibility of playing Saturday, one day after a number of Woodland Hills players are expected to return to the team.
It’s not as if schools are experiencing huge outbreaks of COVID-19 on football teams. In many cases, only one or a handful of players have tested positive. Players and coaches who have been vaccinated can continue to play or coach. But players and coaches who have not been vaccinated and are deemed to have had close contact with an infected player must quarantine for a period of time. Thus, some teams don’t have enough players because not enough players have been vaccinated.
“We had one individual test positive Saturday,” Derry athletic director Brett Miller said. “We have to go back 48 hours and determine how much close contact he had with individuals. Based on that, we had to quarantine all athletes and coaches who were unvaccinated and we would not have enough players after doing that to compete against Freeport. We would have less than 11.”
Carlynton athletic director Nate Milsom said his team would probably have only 14 players available for the game against Serra. So, Carlynton called off the game. Serra then went ahead and scheduled a game against Freeport.
As for the Woodland Hills-North Hills situation, the Woodland Hills School District issued a statement on its website Tuesday that the game had been canceled because of the number of players being quarantined. But both Woodland Hills athletic director Angela Franke and football coach Tim Bostard said Wednesday morning that they are hopeful the game could be played Saturday instead.
Bostard said a Woodland Hills player tested positive for COVID-19 Monday. He said vaccinated players could still practice and attend school, but unvaccinated players had to quarantine. But according to Franke and Bostard, any unvaccinated player who got a negative test for COVID-19 on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, could return to the team Friday.
Bostard would like one day of practice with all players before playing a game. That’s why Woodland Hills has asked North Hills to move the game back one day.
“Per CDC rules, the unvaccinated players can return Friday if they test negative,” Bostard said.
Bostard was unsure how many vaccinated players are on the team.
North Hills athletic director Pat Weber said the school is awaiting some guidance from the WPIAL and also Woodland Hills before making a decision on moving the game to Saturday.
It’s hard to reschedule high school football games for a later date, unless teams are willing to play two games in a few days. And most aren’t. WPIAL teams don’t have open dates on their schedules.
Also at issue is whether canceled games will be considered a forfeit or “no contest” and not count against teams’ records. A year ago, the PIAA issued a rule that said regular-season contests called off by a school because of COVID-19 reasons would be considered no contest. But schools that called off a postseason games at the district (WPIAL) or state (PIAA) level would have to forfeit the contest.
But the PIAA has been alerted of a few teams around the state this year canceling games to possibly avoid playing a particular opponent and using COVID as the reason, when only one or two players tested positive. The schools are using injuries as another reason for cancellation.
Last week, the PIAA issued a guidance that said if a team has enough players to practice and play and cancels a game, the contest must be considered a forfeit. But if a team doesn’t have the required minimum players because of COVID, the game shall be declared “no contest.” The WPIAL informed all of its schools last week to follow the PIAA guidance.
Norwin and Carlynton forfeited their games this week while the Derry-Freeport game is “no contest” because Derry has fewer than 11 players available.
“Per PIAA rules, if you have at least 11 guys, you play or you forfeit,” Carlynton athletic director Nate Milsom said. “But who in their right mind is going to play a varsity game with only 11 guys?
“We would have about 14 to play Friday. But then that becomes a safety issue. So we just forfeited.”
Norwin athletic director Mike Burrell said the Knights would have more than 11 players for Friday’s game, but the issue is who the players are.
“Our team practices in pods and the linemen pod is the one that was affected,” Burrell said. “Do we have over 11 to play? Yes. But we don’t have linemen. We’re not putting a 120-pound freshman on the line against a 320-pound lineman. That’s a safety thing. So it will be a forfeit under the parameters the PIAA set.
“We want to play every contest. Unfortunately, this just happened to us this week.”
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh
First Published: September 22, 2021, 7:45 p.m.
