Few glitches as fall sports season opens this week

BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - With the kick off of fall sports starting Friday, just a few glitches have wrinkled up the schedule for area teams.

The Fort Madison High School Volleyball team had to go into a 14-day quarantine that currently is set to expire Friday.. Due to the quarantine, the Bloodhounds haven't practiced since Aug. 14 when an unnamed player on the squad tested positive for the coronavirus.

That move also keeps the Hounds from competing in the loaded Bondurant tournament on Saturday, according to FMHS Activities Director Jeremy Swink.

The delay also prompted the Bloodhounds to move their first home match on Sept 1 with Fairfield to a later date. The Hounds will currently start the season at the Burlington Notre Dame tournament on Saturday, Sept. 5.

"At this point we're only aware of one positive test and that was on our volleyball team,' Swink said. "Outside of that, we're not aware of any additional positive athletes in our system."

Swink said the district continues to monitor the situation carefully including some potential exposures the district is still waiting to hear back on.

Friday's football game with Burlington is still on but Swink said masks will be required if fans aren't social distancing. The West Burlington school district delayed the start of their school year after an emergency meeting called last week, however the move didn't effect the football schedule since the district just delayed the start date.

The game will also be Bloodhound Senior Night, which was moved up to the beginning of the season in the event seasons were to be halted from the spread of the coronavirus.

Swink said policing the masks may prove difficult, but there will be school officials monitoring the situation.

"We're mandating our kids wear masks during the school day, so it doesn't make sense to allow them to pack into a student section without a face covering," he said. "It's going to be tough to police everyone, but we'll do the best we can."

He said there will be some flexibility and families will be allowed to sit together in groups without masks.

"If there's a group of five sitting together as a family, I'm not interested in going up there and telling them to put on a mask or leave. But we still want that student presence and if they are crowded in the student section they'll have to have mask on," he said.

He said the cross country teams coached by Brian Mendez are practicing normally and have had no interruptions.

"Cross country coach Mendez is doing a great job distancing the kids and that's kind of surprising because that's a large group of kids," Swink said. "Like I said before, we have a couple different situations and some potentials, but right now we have no positive tests on the cross country and football teams."

Holy Trinity Catholic's fall sports teams are also back on schedule.

Activities Director John Goetz didn't elaborate on any positive cases or potential exposures citing privacy concerns.

The Crusader's No. 1 ranked Class A volleyball team will be in action on Saturday in Bondurant. The Crusaders did cancel some practices the second week of the month to gather information about a possible exposure. The team moved practices to outdoors with masks and were able to get back on the floor on Monday.

The Crusaders boys cross country squad under the new leadership of Dawn Schulte, has been working out normally but wearing masks.

Goetz said he's watching to see what other schools are doing and following state guidelines for volleyball home games this year.

Holy Trinity's annual HTC Classic is set for Sept. 21, and the Crusaders first home match isn't until Sept. 17.

"We're still discussing about our tournaments and home matches. We have some ideas, but we're gonna watch and see what some other schools are doing and who knows what the guidelines will be in three weeks," he said.

Central Lee Activities Director Jerry Ireland was unable to be reached for comment on the Hawks fall programs.