Ripon has a new opponent on Friday, and Sierra’s game was moved to Thursday.
It is becoming a weekly occurrence for high school football teams in the area as some have had to scramble to make scheduling changes caused by coronavirus outbreaks, poor air quality stemming from the Caldor and Dixie wildfires, referee shortages and transportation issues.
Last week, and Ripon Christian had less than a day to seek out a replacement for East Nicolaus, which shut down its campus and canceled all extracurricular activities because of COVID-19. The Knights settled on facing Sacramento out of a pool of talented, larger-school programs that were available on short notice. Meanwhile, a shortage of officials forced Weston Ranch to bump its home opener with Mountain House from Friday to Thursday.
“It has been a logistical nightmare,” Ripon coach Chris Musseman said, audibly exhausted in a phone interview with the Bulletin on Tuesday night. His Indians are playing on very short rest this week after having to make the 55-mile trek into the Mother Lode to face Sonora on Monday.
Ripon was supposed make that trip last Friday, but the varsity contest was called off about six hours before kickoff as air quality crept into unhealthy levels. A freshman-JV-varsity tripleheader was then scheduled to take place Saturday at Ripon but that was also canceled.
On Tuesday, the California Interscholastic Federation announced that it has temporarily suspended Bylaw 504.M, which prohibits interscholastic competitions on Sundays.
“(Playing Sonora on Sunday) would have been better for the kids all the way around,” Musseman said.
While the Sonora game remained in flux, the Indians were simultaneously looking to fill their Week 2 vacancy left by East Nicolaus — Ripon was scheduled to face the Sutter County powerhouse on the road on Friday.
Ripon will instead square off with a familiar foe in Center, the team the Indians knocked off for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V championship in 2019. It will be a 77-mile expedition for a team hobbling from its physical entanglement in Sonora. Now 0-2, Ripon will be down some key players as it plays a Center team coming off a 68-7 blowout of Rio Linda.
Musseman said Ripon had other options, but Center was the best fit for multiple reasons.
“It was really hard, because a lot of team contacting us only needed a JV game or were looking for varsity only. We needed (an opponent) for both varsity and JV, and Center is a team that helps us prepare for league.
“Yeah, we’re having our struggles a little bit but we were looking to be challenged. We were real lucky to get someone like Center.”
As for Sierra, its non-league opponent, Pacheco, was unable to get busses for the Los Banos-to-Manteca jaunt on Friday. Like Ripon, Sierra also has a quick turnaround having just played on Saturday. Pacheco and Sierra opted not to meet this Saturday because it’s Labor Day weekend.
Playing a day earlier is the least of the inconveniences Sierra has had to face so far this season. Although the program has yet to have canceled a game entirely because of COVID-19, it has been ravaged by positive tests and contact tracing leading to a thin roster across the board.
Sierra head coach Chris Johnson confirmed on Tuesday that he has had to shut down the junior varsity squad for the rest of the season. The Timberwolves had low turnout from the sophomore class to begin with as much of their players started the school year academically ineligible.
“We haven’t had a full squad yet,” Johnson said. “It’s crazy.”
His was the only team in the area that had to start official practices a week late as his JV and varsity were forced to quarantine because of positive tests. Players from the JV are being elevated to varsity, while the 2-0 freshman squad remains intact.
“A lot of them (JV players) are going to contribute right away because we’re very thin at the varsity level as it is,” Johnson said. “What do you do, keep 20 kids at each level? It’s just not safe, especially with some of the teams we play. One positive is a lot of those guys are going to get that trial by fire and get varsity reps right now.”
Sierra may not get a lower-level game at all on Thursday. With the JV team already out, the freshmen were set to play at Lathrop, as originally scheduled. Lathrop, however, has had to back out in the 11th hour as its numbers in practice have dipped this week. Spartans coach Ryan Teicheira said he is still hopeful to have a freshman team this season, but for now it will be evaluated week to week.
“I would rather have three levels but the numbers are the numbers,” Teicheira said. “We’ve had a couple kids quit and some kids today (Tuesday) just didn’t show up. I wanted to give the Sierra freshman team and coaches the respect they deserve and give them a chance to get another game this week.”
