High school football falls victim to COVID-19

By Randy Capps

I told myself I wasn’t going to write another column about COVID-19, but the writer’s mind goes where it wants, and mine is no different.

My default response to all things pandemic has been, “everything sucks. Everything’s canceled.”

It’s too hard for me to dive into specific things that we’ve lost, milestones our children have missed or worries about small businesses (including mine). The scope of it all is too large, so I toss it all in the same “COVID sucks” box and try to keep things moving.

The postponement of high school football until February (hopefully) is a particularly bitter pill, however.

I love high school football. I’ve covered tons of college and pro events, and none of those top the thrill I get walking into a football stadium on a crisp Friday night, hearing the marching band and feeling the buzz of my friends and neighbors as they watch their children play.

But, in the midst of a pandemic, it was always going to be difficult to have a season this fall.

How would the North Carolina State High School Athletic Association handle different school models across its conferences? How would schools handle transportation to practices and games with students attending virtually? How often would schools test for the virus?

What happens when there’s a positive?

There are more questions than this, but you get the idea.

If there winds up being high school football in the dead of winter, I’ll be there. But I’m writing things on my calendar in pencil these days.

In a perfect world, there would be a vaccine and we could all get back to whatever normal used to be. But right now?

Everything sucks. Everything’s canceled.