COVID-19 making SC football season touch and go. Midlands schools feeling the impact
It was a longer wait than most programs in South Carolina, but the Lexington and River Bluff football teams finally got their seasons going.
The two Lexington County teams’ season openers were Friday night — two weeks after the rest of the state — when Lexington hosted Ridge View and River Bluff took on defending Class 5A champion Dutch Fork.
It was almost a month since either team faced another squad. River Bluff held a four-team scrimmage on Sept. 12; Lexington scrimmaged Midland Valley on Sept. 18. Since then both programs, who were scheduled to open the season against each other Sept. 25, have been out of action after having at least one player test positive for COVID-19.
“It is stuff out of your control. Got to stay positive for the kids. Kids just want to play,” Lexington coach Perry Woolbright said earlier this week. “We made it to a game. We haven’t played a real game since last November. It will be big especially for 31 seniors to play as many games as possible.”
Three weeks into a shortened 2020 football season, Columbia-area schools have felt the impacts of the virus as much as any region in the state. Thirty of 32 Midlands public high schools have had their schedules disrupted either because of their own issues related to the virus or because of COVID-19 impacts to their opponents.
Mid-Carolina, Batesburg-Leesville, Blythewood, Spring Valley and Lower Richland were the latest schools affected. Mid-Carolina announced Wednesday that it won’t be able to play its next two games against Keenan and Lower Richland because of COVID-19 issues. Those games will be made up at the end of the season.
Batesburg-Leesville postponed games with Columbia and Newberry the next two weeks because of COVID-19 exposure, according to the school.
Blythewood found out during practice Wednesday that its opponent, Rock Hill, was going to postpone Friday’s game after several individuals affiliated with the Rock Hill program “reported COVID-like symptoms.” In all, seven Midlands games had to be postponed or canceled this week.
Spring Valley and Lower Richland found out hours before kickoff Friday that their games wouldn’t be played.
Coaches were aware of the possibility of having to stop and restart their seasons when the South Carolina High School League gave the go-ahead to play football in the fall with a seven-game regular season. And teams are prepared to navigate the uncertainty until championship games are played in December.
SC teams rolling with COVID setbacks
In a survey conduct by The State, 62% of the 72 S.C. coaches who responded said the season and its COVID developments are what they thought would happen, while 22% percent said things are going better than expected; 15.5% said the impacts are worse than expected.
“Most coaches knew something is going to happen,” Camden coach Brian Rimpf said. “We have made our schedule up three times already and have to do it one more time after we won’t be able to play Lugoff-Elgin. We are adapting to change and ready for things when they are different.”
Schools in the Greenville, Spartanburg and Anderson areas of the Upstate have also seen their share of COVID-19 disruptions. Hilton Head High School on the coast began its season Friday after the virus delayed the team’s start.
No one could pinpoint why Midlands high schools have been so widely affected, though some said local districts are simply being cautious any time a coronavirus issue arises at one of their schools.
Woolbright pointed out that NFL and college teams are having similar issues with coronavirus, and they test players and coaches nearly every day. High schools don’t require testing, but anyone can get tested any time there is a concern.
The Kershaw County School District is one of the few locally to have a policy written specifically for COVID-19 protocols and athletic teams. Kershaw also has a COVID-19 dashboard for schools that is updated daily. Others Midlands school districts told The State that sports teams follow the same guidelines that are in place for the classroom: Any time a virus-related issue arises, teams follow guidelines and procedures recommended for quarantining and contract tracing from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control and the Centers for Disease Control.
It’s not known if any local student-athletes have experienced serious health complications from the virus.
Camden, along with Lexington and River Bluff, were the first Midlands programs to deal with COVID-19 issues. The Bulldogs canceled their final scrimmage and postponed the Sept. 25 opener against Lakewood, then returned to the field last week.
Camden and other Kershaw County schools got the go-ahead from the district to begin practice in early June and didn’t have any issues until some players tested positive last month.
While Camden’s team was in quarantine and couldn’t practice or meet face to face, Rimpf spent the time learning more about contract tracing and how to make any needed adjustments.
“I learned all of the documentation, that we were complying with contract tracing, how to arrange practice bus rides and meetings to make sure we are doing things the right way,” Rimpf said.
Teams and coaches continue to follow protocols at practices and games such as wearing masks and practicing social distancing. Rimpf said Camden sprays down helmets and lockers after every practice, which is standard procedure for teams each day. They took four buses instead of two last week to its game against Manning to be able to better space out their 46 varsity players.
Lexington players have assigned seats on buses to make it easier for contract tracing, Woolbright said. They also limit time in locker rooms to less than 10 minutes and cap the amount of players who can gather there at one time.
Playing through a pandemic? ‘It’s just different’
Football hasn’t been the only sport to deal with postponements and cancellations because of COVID-19. But given the high-profile nature of the sport and the fact it is played once a week, it makes for a challenge to try and get games rescheduled.
Just this week Spartanburg High School stayed busy trying to fill a vacancy on their schedule from a COVID cancellation. On Thursday they found an opponent, Union County, to face Friday. Union had its game postponed when Broome reported a positive test.
“Had no idea what to expect. Still don’t from day to day, call to call, text to text,” Spartanburg coach Mark Hodge said. “It’s not bad. It’s just different, new, challenging and constantly changing. Still blessed to get to do what we do.”
S.C. High School League commissioner Jerome Singleton told The State that 6% to 10% of football games statewide had to be postponed or canceled over the first two weeks of the regular season.
Singleton said that was expected and he’s been pleased with how the state’s districts and schools have handled things. He encouraged them to continue to be “vigilant” in their efforts going forward.
“There have been some setbacks, but with the adjustments that have been made I think we are further ahead than we could have been if we didn’t pay attention to health and safety,” Singleton said. “I am pleased with where we are at so far.”
That number of postponed football games has been lower with private high schools, which started their season Aug. 29. S.C. Independent Schools Association athletic director Mike Fanning said they haven’t had a football postponement or cancellation because of COVID-19 for four straight weeks after having one instance in each of the first three.
“A lot of people are doing the right thing, whether shutting pods or shutting down teams. Because the the most important thing is athletes’ safety, coaches’ safety and safety of the community,” said White Knoll athletic trainer Sheila Gordon, who was on the statewide task force that helped shape public schools’ return-to-play plan. “We are doing as much as we possibly can at White Knoll. Obviously we are still going. I know it was in the back of our mind that teams would start canceling games.
“Nothing has been set in stone. We don’t know what to expect or what to expect going forward. It is the season of unknown. No one has been here before.”
Gordon said she gets a fair amount of calls each week with questions from other schools but says everyone is doing a good job handling things as they see fit.
In some instances, districts aren’t taking a chance even when an athlete doesn’t test positive.
Westwood in Richland 2 postponed games for two weeks, the district announced Tuesday, when 12 players were placed in quarantine. The school was notified that a Lugoff-Elgin player who took part in Friday’s game tested positive for COVID-19.
“Abundance of caution is what course school districts have been taking. No one is going to argue with that,” Rimpf said.
Preparing for impacts to playoffs
While teams have been able to reorganize schedules during the regular season, that won’t be the case for the playoffs. If a student-athlete tests positive for the coronavirus or has to quarantine, it could force the team to miss out on the postseason.
It already has happened in another sport as the Fort Dorchester girls swimming team, which was supposed to compete in state championships in North Charleston on Saturday. According to WCSC in Charleston, a member of the Fort Dorchester team tested positive and had been in close contact with team members at a meet last weekend. Dorchester District Two made the decision that the school can’t compete this weekend.
The swimming finals will be the first public school state championship event held since the pandemic began in March. SCISA held its girls golf state championships earlier this week.
The SCHSL is clear where it stands if a football team or any other sport has to quarantine during the postseason. Singleton sent out a memo to its schools this week that said the postseason won’t be delayed in order to stay on track for the Dec. 4-5 football championships at sites yet to be determined.
The only exception would be if an issue happened before the first-round game takes place. For example, if a second-place team from a region has a player tests positive or a team has to quarantine, the third-place team could take its spot in the playoffs.
Football teams that don’t make the playoffs have the option of playing one extra game, so teams theoretically will be ready if the scenario arises of needing to fill a postseason.
But once the playoffs begin, that is no longer an option.
“If a team is unable to play because of being quarantined for an extended period of time, that team will have to forfeit the contest and the bracket will progress as normal,” Singleton said. “Regular season lets us be flexible. Playoffs don’t do that.
“I’m confident member schools will continue to practice health and safety measures and not compromise any athlete, coach or staff for sake of competing in the playoffs. I don’t think they will do it for the regular season either.”
This story was originally published October 9, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
