MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Three high school football teams in Monongalia County were forced to punt Friday, on what was supposed to be the opening night of the season.
The decision came from Gov. Jim Justice, who made the announcement concerning Mon County sports during his daily press briefing, just hours after the county had moved to red on the statewide COVID-19 map. The county had previously been orange until 12:30 p.m. Friday, which, by previous standards, would have permitted the county’s teams to play.
A red designation means Mon County is averaging more than 25 positive cases per 100,000 population.
School officials were notified of the changes around 2 p.m. Friday.
“Just about four hours before the game,” Morgantown High athletic director John Bowers began. “That was the hardest part. The timing of it all was the biggest gut punch.”
Three games were canceled because of the decision: University High at Parkersburg South, Bridgeport at Morgantown and Clay-Battelle at Bishop Rosencrans (Zanesville, Ohio). Wirt County had decided to forfeit its game at Trinity on Thursday, due to coronavirus concerns.
“We were expecting to play,” University High athletic director Jeff Bailey said. “We had received the go ahead from the (West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission) and from our own superintendent (Eddie Campbell). That’s what we were going by and our kids were so excited. They had done everything asked of them in order to play. They had done all of the right things. When the word came from the governor, we had to change everything right then.
“I’m absolutely heartbroken for our student-athletes and our coaches. They continued to show great character every day working through all of the changes. They had continued to put their hearts and souls into this.”
Mon County’s move to red also means other fall sports such as soccer, volleyball, golf and cross-country are not permitted to play or practice. Under the state’s guidelines, there will be no in-class attendance by students while the county remains red.
The Monongalia County Health Department reported 50 new positive cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. The Dominion Post reached out to the department seeking clarification on how many of those cases were West Virginia University students and how many were actual Mon County residents. No reply had been given as of this writing.
In an earlier report by The Dominion Post’s Ben Conley, Campbell pointed out that if WVU’s recent jump in positive cases was removed from the equation, Mon County would be in the green, meaning three or fewer cases based on the rolling average.
Bailey said he did not know if any officials from WVU had reached out to the local high schools.
“That communication would go to our superintendent,” he said.
As for Friday’s decision, it created some havoc for Clay-Battelle coaches and parents, who were already on the road heading to Zanesville.
“We were told Thursday everything was a go,” C-B head football coach Ryan Wilson said. “We were already on the road when we were told to come back. We were in Washington (Pa.). Now suddenly we had to find a place to pull off and start making some calls to our parents. Some of them were in a convoy behind me, but some had already made it to Ohio.
“Our kids were great in helping us get in contact with everyone. They were putting the message out on social media. Our parents chipped in and helped contact other parents, but for a while, it was all very confusing and there were some frustrations. I had to call the coaches at Bishop Rosencrans and tell them that we had just been shut down by our governor. They told me that had already heard through the grapevine.”
The next statewide update is scheduled for 9 p.m. Saturday, and local officials are already under the assumption that next week’s football games, as well as contests in other sports, will also be called off.
“Athletically, we are shut down until the next update,” Bailey said. “I don’t have a good feeling for what (the next update) is going to say, which will put next week’s games in jeopardy. At this point, we are basically week to week.”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen, which is a difficult thing to tell my kids,” added Wilson. “It’s all very disappointing. I’m almost to the point where I’m at a loss for words. I’m hurting for our parents and our kids. Right now, I basically believe that we can’t practice next week and our game at Valley Wetzel will be called off. I’ve called their people and told them that we’ll likely not be able to play.”
As for the rest of the football season, Mon County school officials said there would likely be an interest from the athletes to resume playing if the county were to drop from red, although Bowers raised questions on what that may look like for the county’s football players and other athletes after being held out of practice for weeks.
“You can’t hold out a football kid from practice and playing for three weeks and then go play a game,” Bowers said. “It would be difficult to do that in any sport. Maybe if we would go back to orange and then be able to practice and keep the kids conditioned, we could think about playing again. It all depends on how long we have to hold them out. If we’re out three weeks or more, that would be tough.”
Another question: Could Mon County football teams still be eligible for the state playoffs if they were only to play a minimal amount of games?
“That would be a question for the SSAC,” Bailey said. “I’m just not sure how that would work.”
As for the other fall sports, state-tournament participants are decided through sectional and regional competitions. It is believed the other sports would still be eligible to play in those qualifying tournaments as long as Mon County was to drop from its current red designation before those tournaments began.
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