‘It’s nobody’s fault.’ Can high school football survive in Mississippi during COVID-19?
After skimming COVID-19 guidelines sent out by the Mississippi High School Activities Association for the upcoming football season, Katlan French’s reaction echoed that of just about every coach in his position.
“We’ll figure it out and adapt,” the third-year Biloxi head coach said.
This summer, South Mississippi high school football teams have not been immune to the pandemic that has wreaked havoc on some Coast communities. However, athletic departments worked their way through challenges to prepare for the 2020-21 school year.
Pass Christian High School shut down summer workouts temporarily after an unidentified coach tested positive for the coronavirus. At nearby Bay High, there was a precautionary pause in workouts for both the boys basketball and volleyball teams.
The East Central and St. Martin football programs continued with workouts this summer after having COVID-19 cases pop up on both teams.
First-year Bay High head coach Jeremy Turcotte and his staff had a productive summer while navigating a couple of scares.
“We did have four kids throughout the summer where either it was a relative tested positive or they were sick or feeling sick,” Turcotte said. “The four kids did get tested so they had to quarantine, but we had no players come up positive in the football program.
“Driver’s licenses have been a pain in the program. You’ve got all the kids that are going to be juniors that have got to get driver’s licenses.”
Turcotte and his staff set up two weight rooms and had outdoor lifting areas to allow social distancing.
Daily temperature checks were also conducted.
Workouts at Ocean Springs have been split up into smaller groups, giving the players more room to work with.
“We have sanitation stations in four different spots,” Ocean Springs coach Blake Pennock said. “They hit the sanitizer when they walk in and and when they walk on. The next group rotates through, and we just try to keep the numbers down as much as possible. We’re doing juts about everything we can. After we’re done with workouts for the day, we have a guy who takes a fog machine and sanitizes the whole weight room and locker room.”
COVID-19 cases among Coast coaches
Along with with the Pass Christian coach, news that locals in the coaching profession have battled COVID-19 brought the reality of the pandemic close to home in South Mississippi.
George County’s Matt Caldwell, who stepped down as football coach after the 2019 season to become the director of athletics and operations in the district, was hospitalized for about five days in July while he fought the coronavirus.
Ocean Springs baseball coach Brian Rea did not have to be hospitalized, but he tested positive after he started to not feel well on July 4.
“I had every symptom,” Rea said last week. “I had nine straight days of fever, loss of taste, shortage of breath. It was a full 14-day episode.
“I am a believer. It’s tough.”
MHSAA guidelines
On July 14, the MHSAA pushed back the start of the high school football season until Sept. 4, eliminating the first two weeks of games. Full practice will officially begin on Aug. 17.
One reason behind the delay is so administrators can observe how well the resumption of in-person classes goes before moving forward with games.
The MHSAA has already provided guidelines for coaches, players and fans to follow this season.
Some of the protocols include:
▪ You must be wearing a mask to enter the stadium.
▪ Players cannot share personal items like towels or water bottles.
▪ No handshakes, high fives or fist bumps after games.
▪ Dressing rooms should be big enough to socially distance.
▪ The team box on both sidelines should be extended to the 10 yard lines.
▪ Maintain social distancing of 6 feet at all times while inside the box.
▪ The ball should be cleaned and sanitized throughout the contest.
The challenge ahead for high school football
Considering players are colliding repeatedly throughout the course of the game, there’s only so much social distancing that can be maintained in football.
Something as simple as coaches interacting with players becomes a much more complicated process.
“I understand they have to make it look like it’s supposed to look,” French said. “With these kids, they’re practicing with each other and they’re together all day, every day. We’ve received no guidelines for practice. When we go out and play the game, they’ll be tackling each other.”
French included, all coaches are thinking up ways to meet guidelines while not disrupting the normal state of play during games.
“We’re doing whatever guidelines are set to follow,” Moss Point coach Eugene Harmon said. “Sometimes, we might add a little extra precaution to it. You can never be too careful. They’ve set the guidelines and we plan to follow it to a T.”
Gov. Tate Reeves has limited capacity at sporting events to 25%, but he said this week that he and other state officials are still discussing what guidelines to set for football.
Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the state’s top health officer, has been clear that large crowds at sporting events would be dangerous.
“I would strongly advocate against having crowds in stadiums,” he said. “There will be risks for the players there’s no doubt, but there aren’t a lot of 65-year-old people out in the field playing football. But there are a lot of folks vulnerable in the stands. I would say that it makes a lot of sense for the stands to be mostly empty for the benefit of the school and the community.”
If high school football teams are playing in mostly empty stadiums this season, the financial impact will cross all sports.
“I’ve been given percentages from 10-25% on capacity,” Jackson County School District Superintendent John Strycker said. “You have to start doing math on who you let in — parents, the band, football players and staff members. We’ll do the best we can to keep track of those numbers. There’s the challenge of who even gets to be in the game, and who decides who gets in.
“There’s also the lack of revenue, but that’s secondary. The first concern is protecting players and fans. Secondary is revenue. There could be a major lack, and we depend on that revenue.”
Whether it’s quarantining players during the season or figuring out who will be allowed to attend games, there are numerous challenges ahead for high school football in Mississippi.
“It’s nobody’s fault,” Turcotte said. “We’re all dealing with something we’ve never had to deal with before.”
This story was originally published August 7, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
