Will high school football season happen without a hitch? Not likely, SC coaches say
Dutch Fork High School is looking to win its fifth straight football state championship. Head coach Tom Knotts hopes his team gets that opportunity.
Knotts’ outlook has nothing to do with the Silver Foxes breaking in new starters at quarterback and receiver. It’s a matter of whether or not there will be a high school football season in South Carolina — or what it will look like because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve got a spike in the cases. I’m going to work as hard as I can to get the guys ready,” Knotts said. “I’m real frustrated by it and I am not real optimistic of what the future holds for football this year.”
Knotts didn’t sound overly optimistic about the fate of the 2020 season Monday as Lexington-Richland 5 schools Dutch Fork, Chapin and Irmo held their first summer workouts. The Dutch Fork coach, like many in the state, was concerned about the recent surge in COVID-19 cases. There were more than 4,000 new cases between June 19-22, including a record 1,157 on Saturday.
Most S.C. coaches still believe there will be a high school football season this fall, according to an online poll conducted over the last week by The State. Of the almost 60 responses, however, 72% believe the season will start late or be shortened because of the coronavirus. The first games in South Carolina are scheduled for Aug. 20.
Those poll results come as high school and college football workouts are disrupted by the pandemic:
▪ Newberry County schools — including Newberry, Mid-Carolina and Whitmire high schools — announced Sunday that summer workouts wouldn’t start Monday as planned because of the spike in coronavirus cases.
▪ Fort Mill High School canceled its practices this week after a player tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Rock Hill Herald.
▪ On Friday, Clemson reported that 23 of its football players had tested positive for coronavirus. Workouts continued while the affected players were quarantined.
▪ Kansas State suspended its voluntary workouts because of positive cases among its players, and LSU had to quarantine 30 or more players, according to a Sports Illustrated report.
“Safety has got to come first somehow. It would be terrible for someone to lose a life over this,” Knotts said. “We’ve got to figure out how to do this thing. Nobody knows — that is the frustrating thing. I’m a football guy. I want to play football. .... We are all frustrated about it.”
Fifteen minutes away Monday, Chapin coach Justin Gentry sounded a little more hopeful about a 2020 season as his team participated in a two-hour workout that involved players switching between 10 stations every nine minutes.
“I’m optimistic of what we are doing. If things change, we will roll and adjust. That is what we do as coaches and athletes,” Gentry said. “I’m not crazy. I know there is a bunch of chances and ifs and buts, but I will support the people who make those decisions. We will modify and adjust as we go.
“We are going to work these next 10 days to get these guys back in shape.”
Coaches and teams are walking the line of moving forward while not truly knowing what the future holds for school, football and health protocols. And Molly Spearman, the state superintendent of education, said Monday that schools might not return to in-person classes unless the COVID-19 outlook improves. Historically, sports cannot happen unless schools and their facilities are fully open.
While Knotts and Gentry might have differing levels of optimism about the upcoming season, both coaches were preaching to kids Monday about safety precautions. Some kids were sent home because they didn’t have their COVID-19 waivers.
During Monday’s practices, coaching staffs for both teams reminded the players about staying six feet apart and having their masks on when they weren’t involved in an activity. Coaches also stressed to their teams about being responsible when they are away from campus.
“They got to assume social responsibility. They can’t go out and get sick. They got to limit what they do,” Knotts said. “If they are going to malls and places where there are lots of people and they get sick, we are going to throw a season away. They got to do everything in their power to stay healthy and do the right things to play in December.”
Dutch Fork, Chapin and other public schools around the state are still in Phase 1 of the return to sports set by the South Carolina High School League. In this first phase, teams can’t use a ball for the first 10 days, or 14 calendar days. After that, equipment can be used but not shared. No locker rooms can be used.
There is no timetable for how long Phase 1 will last or what Phase 2 will look like, SCHSL commissioner Jerome Singleton said. The South Carolina Independent Schools Association, which governs the state’s private schools, has already has moved to Phase 2, which allows the use of footballs, arm pads and shields.
The National Federation of High School Associations, in its guidelines for Phase 2, said up to 50 athletes can gather outdoors for workouts and up to 10 inside. The second phase also allows for the use of locker rooms. Phase 3 would include resumption of normal operations.
There are some districts around the state, including Beaufort County, Richland 1 and Richland 2, that haven’t started summer workouts. Richland 2 schools Blythewood, Spring Valley and Westwood will start June 29, while fellow district schools Ridge View and Richland Northeast will start July 6, the same day as Beaufort and Richland 1 schools.
