BROOKVILLE — Getting answers from a seven-question survey from all but three schools in the District 9 Football League, including all schools involved in a co-operative program, Brookville Area High School Athletic Director Dave Osborne started the process of planning for the fall.
The league’s president knew it was time to start figuring out what the league might do when and if the coronavirus pandemic disrupts the schedule that begins in just over a month. The district’s first and only scrimmage on the schedule is Aug. 22 with the 10-game regular season beginning Aug. 28.
“We’re trying to accumulate information that will help us in making decisions and getting re-started this fall,” said Osborne, who received 25 completed surveys. “We’ll be meeting with the coaches next week and I wanted to have these results to share. It’s a big district, from Otto-Eldred to Moniteau.”
Osborne said that getting feedback from the district’s football referees and officials from other neighboring districts are other vital parts of the equation. All of it will possibly help figure out a contingency plan if game(s) are postponed due to the virus.
“Certainly, schools are going to be very hesitant to play with positive tests on either their team or the opponent’s team,” said Osborne after looking at the survey results. “And we just want to have maybe a contingency plan if our original (schedule) doesn’t work or fall short of those scenarios.
“Everyone is going in hoping that we’re going to play our season as scheduled. If we fall short of that, do we have another plan in which kids can play football? Those are the things I want to talk to the coaches about and get their input to see if there’s an interest in developing a contingency plan.”
Meaning, if the schedule is not completed, should leagues declare a champion? That’s one question that was directly posed on the survey. Also, if there are multiple teams left without an opponent on a given week, how would those teams be matched up to salvage a postponement with a team that’s canceling due to COVID-19 concerns or positive tests?
While schools got going on their safety plan-approved summer workouts as early as last week, Wednesday’s expanded “mask” order by Governor Tom Wolf’s administration caused more than one school to postpone workouts to get clarity or amend policy. Most of the surveys were turned in prior to the updated mask order.
“Hopefully this survey gives us at least a snapshot of where other schools are at this time because what one school is doing isn’t the only thing that matters,” Osborne said. “We are very reliant on one another.”
There are several questions that haven’t been answered with the season just over a month away, such as:
— How will schools handle junior high and junior varsity scheduling and policy.
— Transportation.
— Bands and cheerleaders.
— Capacity of stadiums and how many tickets would be shared if fans are allowed to attend games.
SOME OF this, Osborne acknowledged, could and/or will be covered by the PIAA or even the Governor’s office at some point. But talking about the near future, he feels, is good policy regardless.
“There will be a value of just getting all of the coaches together so one can hear ideas from the other,” Osborne said. “That’s going to benefit everybody. There may be precautions that one is taking that someone else hadn’t thought of.”
Football is just one fall sport, of course, but there’s much less flexibility with scheduling due to teams playing one game per week. Other sports can adjust better to postponements. Osborne has the feel that most football coaches will do what it takes to have something meaningful on the gridiron this year.
“I’m seeing coaches with their eyes wide-open and being very flexible,” he said. “They just want to play. They saw what happened in the spring and don’t want to see it happen in the fall. They are willing to do what it takes to make it work, I think.”
