A few days ago, Friday night was expected to be a return to normal with a large crowd at Nunley Stadium to welcome in the new 2021 Pioneer football season. Instead the stadium was empty in what can become the new normal.
No one can predict what the will happen this coming Friday night with any certainty. One fact is indisputable … the kids of McMinnville are getting sick at an alarming rate.
After a summer of very low to no COVID cases in Warren County, the Delta variant has wreaked havoc on the Pioneer football team. The breaking point for Pioneer head coach Matt Turner came on Thursday night.
Turner had become accustomed in recent days of getting messages on his phone about Pioneer football player being quarantined. The number of Pioneer football players and Warren County public school students affected by COVID are at a level that are as high, if not higher, than the largest number of students and football players affected during the past school year.
The Southern Standard communicated with coach Turner, Director of Schools Grant Swallows, WCHS athletic director Todd Willmore, and TSSAA assistant executive director Matthew Gillespie to gather information about what’s happening in McMinnville and across the state with high school football. The following are excerpts from those interviews.
DIRECTOR OF SCHOOLS
Grant Swallows said, “Let’s go back to what my job is. It is my job to create a safe, good environment for education. I have to focus on that, and this week I have had to focus on the health and safety of our students and staff. We have 70 kids who have tested positive and 600 plus students who are in quarantine. With all these kids testing positive, it is taking the Health Department a long time to call everyone.”
“I am afraid this is a new normal. Sports will not be played this year as they were last year. Presently there is more at risk than last year. We have more sick kids than we did last year.”
“I have to do what is best for 6,000 students. I have three kids in this school system. I have an eighth-grade son who is a quarterback in quarantine. Quarantine is for 10 days, but you can get tested after 5 days. If you test negative, you can return to school on the eighth day and wear a mask. Isolation is different; that is for someone who has tested positive.”
“We have a School Board meeting Monday night. I think we will make some changes on how we are trying to deal with the rapidly spreading sickness. If someone was trying to break into your home to hurt your child, you would want to do something to protect that child. We have to look at the ways of protecting kids from this variant. Quarantining is one way. Being vaccinated is another. Wearing a mask and social distancing is another.”
“I was at the high school today, and I was encouraged by what I saw. I saw football players wearing jerseys and masks.”
WCHS PIONEER
FOOTBALL HEAD COACH
Pioneer head football coach Matt Turner realized he had a problem with COVID this week. Turner said, “By Thursday night, I had 13 kids who had been contacted about quarantining or isolating. Twenty percent of my varsity were out and I was still getting messages on Friday morning about players who had to be quarantined.”
“The number of kids affected by COVID were exploding in a 24-36 hour period. I went to my athletic director’s office, Todd Willmore, and called Steve Trapp at DeKalb County. I told him I was concerned that we could endanger his kids. Trapp understands because COVID has become a problem over there as well.”
“I felt like it was a moral decision. I was not certain that we would not infect DeKalb County’s team. As coaches, we made the decision. I spoke to Todd and Grant Swallows about it and then I told my team.”
“I told my team that if wearing a mask could help us play football, that is a small price to pay. I was pleasantly surprised went I went to school this morning and all the players were wearing a mask. That tells me they want to play football.”
WCHS ATHLETIC
DIRECTOR
Todd Willmore said, “The postponement was in the best interest and safety of our students and DeKalb’s students. Part of our role as educators is to keep our students safe and after looking at the rise in COVID-related cases this week, it was the responsible thing to do for all involved.”
TSSAA ASSISTANT
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Matthew Gillespie, said, “In regards to the games being cancelled this week, I guess the best thing is to put it in perspective with where we were last year. So far this week, there have been fewer than 10 cancellations/ changes (reported) across the state out of 170 scheduled games. Last year in Week 1, there were 120 games scheduled. It is certainly something we’ll continue to monitor. Not just football, but any sport. We rely on direction from the medical experts such as the CDC, our Sports Medicine Advisory Committee, and the National Sports Medicine Advisory Committee.”
LIST OF GAMES
AFFECTED THIS WEEK ACROSS THE STATE
Perry County vs. Middleton
USJ vs. Liberty
Silverdale vs. East Ridge
Lynn Camp, Ky., vs. Jellico (moved to Sept. 30)
Sycamore vs. Montgomery Central
Collierville vs. Wooddale (Collierville replaced this with game vs. Raleigh Egypt tonight)
Raleigh Egypt vs. Kingsbury (Raleigh Egypt replaced with game vs. Collierville tonight)
Red Boiling Springs vs. Webb School (Webb School added game vs. Silverdale tonight)
Kipp vs. Memphis Business Academy
Booker T. Washington vs. Memphis Nighthawks (a home school team) - BTW added game vs. Briarcrest tonight.
Happy Valley vs. Cloudland (Cloudland rescheduled with Jellico)
Warren County vs. DeKalb County (moved to Oct. 8)
