COVID-19 has ended the season prematurely for four opponents on the Warren County High School Pioneer football schedule.
DeKalb County, Rockvale, Lawrence County, and Coffee County are all victims of coronavirus. And this crazy pandemic has prevented DeKalb County from entering the playoffs next week after the Tigers won their region championship for the first time in school history.
Every team on Warren County’s schedule has been directly or indirectly impacted by COVID-19 – except Warren County. The Pioneers didn’t get a COVID win like several of their opponents and no Pioneers have tested positive for COVID to date.
DeKalb County head coach Steve Trapp said, “We are grateful for what we had this season. I believe this is a life lesson that we all can learn from. We had one player test positive, and our school and health department told us we had to quarantine for 14 days. I hate it for our seniors. I bet I have done 30 interviews today, and everyone has been telling me how sad they are for us. We will be OK. Again, I am grateful that we got to have a season this year. Maybe our example will help encourage other teams to be extra careful.”
Rockvale was shut down two weeks ago when numerous players and members of the coaching staff were quarantined. Rockvale High School and Stewarts Creek High School, both Rutherford County schools, went to virtual, distance learning last week.
Oakland High School, which sent 150 students home on Monday, including three football players, went to virtual, distance learning this week.
Lawrence County was shut down with three positive cases on its football team and the school suspended all high school athletic activities. Lawrence County was playing for a playoff position this week and that game has been canceled.
Lawrence County’s season is over. The team they were supposed to play, Spring Hill, automatically advances to the second round of the playoffs because Spring Hill was scheduled to play DeKalb County in the opening round.
Coffee County canceled its final game against Riverdale this week. Their head coach tested positive last week. Coffee County Central High School has gone to distance learning as of Thursday.
Oakland High School had two games canceled because their opponents had COVID-19. The Patriots were able to replace their game against Blackman by playing Brentwood.
Oakland enters tonight’s game with Warren County with a 9-0 record, but has only played eight games. Yes, only eight games. That is how this crazy pandemic has affected high sports in Tennessee.
According to Sonja Walker, the Director of Health Services for Warren County Schools, the protocol for a positive test on a Warren County team is to contact trace. Anyone within six feet of someone testing positive for 15 minutes or more must be quarantined for 14 days.
The positive case is reported to the Warren County Health Department, which is the only entity that actually can quarantine anyone.
The nurses at Warren County Schools will contact trace each positive case by talking to the student or staff member who tested positive.
Coaches and players will be questioned for contact tracing regarding positive tests on teams. Game film will also be reviewed. To date, there have been no positive cases on the Warren County High School football team.
