CONNORVILLE — The effects of the COVID-19 issues being felt in the Barnesville football program are now being felt by two other area schools.
Buckeye Local made the decision — based solely on erring on the side of caution — to cancel its Week 2 game against Union Local, which was scheduled for Friday, after learning that the Shamrocks numbers have increased.
First-year athletics director Roger Roberts “heard rumor” of some possible COVID-19 cases within the Shamrocks and reached out to them over the weekend.
“They thought they had just one case at the time, so we originally didn’t think it was going to be much of an issue for us,” Roberts said.
Since then, however, the Shamrocks testing positive has grown to four players and two coaches as of Sunday evening and more players were expected to be tested.
“With Barnesville getting more and more players plus the coaches, we decided to err on the side of safety,” Roberts said. “You just don’t know with this virus.”
As of Monday evening, nary a player or coach with the Panthers was sick or showing symptoms.
Buckeye Local has paused all team activities until no earlier than Monday and plans to resume its season on Sept. 3 against Shadyside.
According to Roberts, no Panther player is eligible to be tested until Wednesday. Assuming those come back clear, they’ll be able to return on Monday.
“We feel confident that we’ll resume next week and play Shadyside as scheduled,” Roberts said. ”
On the flip side, Union Local found itself searching for a game Monday afternoon and, according to Jets head coach Bernie Thompson, the search is still ongoing.
“I spent two-and-a-half hours game planning (Monday morning) for Buckeye Local, leave for lunch and come back to find out we weren’t playing Buckeye Local,” Thompson said. “It’s just today’s world. We will never take anything for granted, but we’re making every effort to pick up a new game.”
The Jets reached out to Edison and East Palestine, but both found another game.
Currently, Union Local is in talks with Chesterland West Geauga, which is located near Aurora.
“We had hoped that either Edison or East Palestine would work out, but neither did and now West Geauga could be a possibility,” Thompson said. “There are also a couple of teams in West Virginia looking after a cancellation.”
For Thompson and Jets, the opponent really doesn’t matter.
“We just want to play, but we do have to look at the big picture,” Thompson said. “We’re willing to go wherever we have to get a game these kids. We want them to have 10 games. These seniors deserve that.”
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