Wayne County football teams ready to let the games begin

High school football is back.

But for how long?

The COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the Ohio High School Athletic Association winter state finals and the entire spring sports season. It was pretty dicey whether fall contact sports would be played, especially after the Big Ten moved its season to the spring.

However, Gov. Mike DeWine announced a new statewide order on Aug. 18. “All fall sports can go forward — both contact and noncontact,” he said.

Marching bands are allowed to play too, and a limited number of family members, or those very close to participants, can attend games.

It’s been a tired cliché for many years to say, “Play every play like it could be your last.” But it’s never been truer than in 2020.

Ninth-year Wooster coach Doug Haas said taking daily temperature checks, wearing masks and following other COVID-19 guidelines is a small price to pay to have a season.

“Following the extra protocols, I would say it's a willing sacrifice in order to get any type of game in whatsoever,” said Haas, whose team is coming off a 7-4 season and favored to repeat as the Ohio Cardinal Conference champion.

Haas said playing helps alleviate stress. “The beauty of coming out here to practice, though, is we lose any type of anxiety or thought process in terms of what's out of our control. When we step in between these lines, everything is within our control. That's the part I'm so proud of about these guys. They've embraced that and don't think about anything else out here except what they need to do at practice,” he said.

Orrville coach Doug Davault is in his 15th season leading the Red Riders and 38th as a coach. He’s never seen anything close to a year like 2020.

About five families elected not to have their kids participate this season due to COVID concerns, Davault said.

“The whole thing has just been somewhat surreal in terms of how things have gone from a teaching and coaching standpoint,” said Davault, whose team was 11-1 last season and is among the favorites to win the Principals Athletic Conference. “I've never been through anything like this."

Davault said there have been pros and cons. "The kids, to their credit, have continued to work pretty hard. At times it was a little unfocused, but we actually got more teaching done than we ever have in the summer," he said. "We’ve only been going once a day instead of having traditional two-a-days, but we’re practicing hard and try to stay within the protocols.”

Third-year Smithville coach Mike Baker, who’s been a coach for more than 20 years, called this the hardest year of all to coach.

“The uncertainty of it all for the kids has wreaked havoc with their mental health at times,” Baker said. “When the news is bad that day, a lot of times the practices are less focused. When things seem good, practices go better. The mental part of this for the kids has been brushed under the rug to a large extent, but I’m really proud of the way they’ve continued to work.”

Teams are permitted only one scrimmage, and it has to be on either Aug. 21 or 22. They found out those dates on Aug. 18.

“Fortunately, one of our coaches had read the week before that we might get a scrimmage, and we’d tentatively set something up with East Knox,” Baker said. “Otherwise, we’d have really been scrambling.”

Dalton is the preseason Wayne County Athletic League favorite, and coach Broc Dial is impressed with the way his program has responded.

“Our players have really adapted through the last several weeks to the COVID-19 protocols and procedures,” Dial said. “The coaching staff has been terrific implementing the protocols, and our players have bought in because they really want to have a season.”

Waynedale coach Louie Stanley said his veteran team has great attitudes despite the added adversity, led by the school’s most experienced senior class in five years. Waynedale and Smithville look to be two schools that could move up in the WCAL standings this fall.

Like other area teams, Triway coach Eric Brenner breaks his team up into smaller groups for weight room work and COVID checks. The Titans started summer practices focusing on beating backyard rival West Holmes in the season opener, only to have the schedule shifted to primarily PAC opponents. If the season makes it to week six, Triway at Orrville could be for the league title.

“We’ve just got to be thankful that we get the opportunity this year,” said Brenner, who has most of his starters back from a 6-4 team. “Hopefully, we will be able to get out there and compete and make the most of it.”

Teams will get a six-game regular season, followed by everyone qualifying for the playoffs. Teams don’t have to accept a spot in the playoffs. If they lose in the playoffs, they can schedule more regular-season games. Instead of using the Harbin computer points, playoff seeds will be voted on. DeWine said it would be OK if some schools, presumably in larger cities, wanted to move their football seasons to the spring.

Reciting all the confusing variables is like a football version of Abbott & Costello’s “Who’s on first?”

Someone asked Davault if Orrville and Wooster both lose in the playoffs, would he consider trying to set up a late-season matchup of the storied rivals? With so much on Davault’s mind, he’s lucky his head didn’t explode hearing that question.

“I said, ‘I can’t even think about a question like that right now,’” Davault said.

Indeed, if ever there was a season in which teams can’t look ahead, it’s 2020.

Just getting through the entire schedule healthy would make for a successful season. Racking up wins would be added cherries on top.

Aaron Dorksen can be emailed at aarondorksen24@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AaronDorksen.