Lexington County rivals postpone opening football game because of COVID-19
One of the top high school football matchups in the Midlands won’t be happening next week.
The Lexington-River Bluff game set for Sept. 25 has been postponed “after three individuals associated with the team tested positive for COVID-19,” the Lexington 1 school district confirmed Friday afternoon. River Bluff also will have to miss its second game of the season against South Aiken on Oct. 2.
This decision does not impact River Bluff High’s junior varsity or B teams.
“While we were looking forward to playing Lexington and South Aiken high schools and hate to miss our season opener, the health and safety of our students, coaches and staff has to be our top priority,” River Bluff principal Dr. Luke Clamp said in a statement. “We believe that postponing the varsity football season start is the best way to keep our players healthy so that we can play other scheduled games later.”
River Bluff played Camden in a four-team scrimmage on Saturday. One of the Camden players tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday.
There were five or less cases at River Bluff for students and less than five for faculty, according to SC Department of Health and Environmental Control.’s latest chart released Friday. That chart is a rolling 30-day count of confirmed cases among students, teachers and faculty members.
The River Bluff and Lexington game will be rescheduled for Nov. 6. River Bluff was supposed to host Northwestern that day and Lexington was to play South Aiken. Those games have been canceled.
Lexington will now host Beaufort on Sept. 25, according to Beaufort coach Bryce Lybrand.
Beaufort had its opener with Hilton Head Island postponed after one member of the Hilton Head Island High School football program tested positive for COVID-19, so 18 players there are in quarantine.
S.C. high school teams are playing a shortened seven-game season during the coronavirus pandemic, and teams are playing region contests first. Those games help determine playoff seeding. The season is starting a little more than a month later than originally planned.
There are 32 states playing a fall football season — 17 of those are modified or shorter seasons.
Camden football’s season opener against Lakewood has been postponed. The Bulldogs also had to cancel its Bulldog Bash Jamboree for Friday. River Bluff was scheduled to play in the jamboree along with AC Flora, Blythewood, North Augusta, Lamar, Central and West Florence.
Camden will be unable to practice at least through the rest of the week and maybe longer, according to Camden coach and athletic director Brian Rimpf.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control recommends a 14-day quarantine period from the time of the last exposure to the person with COVID-19.
The Lexington-River Bluff game is the latest game across the state to be postponed or canceled. Others include Abbeville-Crescent, West Oak-Liberty, Camden-Lakewood, Hilton Head-Beaufort, Swansea-Strom Thurmond, Union County-Clinton and Broome-Emerald.
This story was originally published September 18, 2020 at 2:02 PM.
