‘Our kids want to play.’ Biloxi football shuts down for 2 weeks after COVID-19 outbreak
With Biloxi High School moving to virtual learning until Sept. 8 because of a COVID-19 outbreak, the Indians’ football practices will be shut down for two weeks and the team not will not play its previously scheduled season opener.
BHS football coach Katlan French told the Sun Herald on Monday he has called Poplarville coach Jay Beech to let him know they will not be playing on Sept. 4 as originally planned.
Biloxi Public Schools put out a statement that said the high school had 15 students test positive for the coronavirus and another 324 students were in quarantine as Monday.
French said he has had no positive cases on his team, even among those players who were sent home due to potential exposure.
“It kind of came as a shock in a way because I thought we may be able to continue,” French said Monday, not long after hearing that his team would be on a two-week hiatus. “I thought there may be an outside shot that we could continue with athletics. I don’t know why I thought that because nobody gave us any indication on what was coming. I thought maybe we’d get the opportunity to keep going, but we didn’t at the end of the day.”
With the Poplarville game officially canceled, a Sept. 11 contest against Vicksburg at Mississippi College in Clinton is up in the air.
“If it’s up to me, we’d come back and practice three days and play Vicksburg on Friday,” French said. “I know our kids want to play. If we go out there and get thumped, we get thumped. That game is going to be 50-50 (on the chances of it taking place). We’ll have to make a decision soon.”
If Biloxi can’t play against Vicksburg, its season opener would likely be the Sept. 18 homecoming contest against Stone High.
French said he fully supported the decision of Biloxi Superintendent Marcus Boudreaux to go to virtual learning for two weeks.
“Our kids have been excited to get back out on the field,” he said. “They wanted to play real bad. Biloxi hasn’t seen a team like this in a long time. We just keep getting put further and further behind.
“Our first week of practice was the only time we’ve done anything for the past month and a half. Here we are. We have to take another two weeks off. It’s just tough, man. If we can get on the field, we’ll have a good team.”
This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 5:25 PM.
