Five more games set for Friday canceled

As most of the state’s high school football teams prepare for the beginning of conference play Friday, five more games were affected by the coronavirus pandemic Tuesday.

Bentonville West at Fayetteville in the 7A-West, Little Rock Parkview at Greenwood in the 6A-West, Harrison at Farmington in the 5A-West, Texarkana at Magnolia in the 5A-South and Ozark at Dardanelle in the 4A-4 were all called off. They will be considered no-contests in league standings, meaning there isn’t a winner or loser.

Four of the affected teams who are not quarantined or have positive tests in their programs have rescheduled for Friday. Bentonville West now will travel to Greenwood, Greenwood Athletic Director Dustin Smith said Tuesday; and Harrison will host Ozark, according to the Harrison athletic department.

With Tuesday’s announcements, a total of 11 conference games this week have been affected by covid-19.

Since there is at least one team in Class 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A and 3A that will be forced to miss at least one game, every team in those respective classifications will make the playoffs this season with an option to opt out by Oct. 26.

The Little Rock School District announced in its daily covid-19 report Tuesday afternoon that a student at Parkview tested positive for the virus, and 10 other students were quarantined.

The Arkansas Department of Health requires that a person quarantine

for 14 days if he or she comes into contact with a person who has tested positive for covid-19 or has been exposed to the virus.

Smith said it was unfortunate Parkview and Greenwood couldn’t test their 3-0 teams against each other.

“I hate it for both schools,” Smith said. “It would have been a heck of a game for high school football in the state.”

John Daniels, the athletic director for the Little Rock School District, said Parkview will not have any football activities through Friday. He said the school district will wait for its point-of-contact team to provide more information on when the Patriots can move forward. Their next scheduled game is Oct. 2 at Lake Hamilton.

Losing the Greenwood game is disappointing for the Patriots, Daniels said.

“That’s a big game,” he said. “My hope is that at some point, they could meet in the playoffs. They could be two of the best teams in Class 6A. We’re disappointed that they won’t make the trip over there.”

Fayetteville has several football players in quarantine, and the Bulldogs will not practice for the remainder of the week.

“We’re doing this out of precaution for our kids,” Fayetteville Athletic Director Steve Janski said. “It’s gut-wrenching for our kids, especially the seniors, but it’s the right thing to do.”

Fayetteville was off last week after losing 35-17 at North Little Rock on Sept. 11.

“You hate it for the kids,” Fayetteville Coach Casey Dick said. “But putting the health and safety of our players above everything else is a promise we made to their parents. We’re going to push the pause button then reassess as we, hopefully, move forward toward next week.”

Farmington Superintendent Jon Laffoon said in a news release Tuesday that three football players at the school have tested positive for covid-19, and an additional 22 players are under quarantine.

Laffoon said the status of the Cardinals’ Oct. 2 game at Vilonia will be determined at a later date.

Magnolia has three positive cases at the high school, Superintendent John “Skipper” Ward said.

Ward did not say how many of those cases were football players, but that “multiple” players may have been exposed to the virus and that he decided to have the entire football team, which includes 67 players, needed to quarantine out of an abundance of caution.

“We want to try to get a handle on this,” he said.

Magnolia is 3-1 after victories against Crossett, Little Rock Christian and El Dorado. Ward said the status of the Panthers’ Oct. 2 game at Hot Springs Lakeside is uncertain.

Dardanelle Athletic Director Lucas Skaggs said several football players are in quarantine. The Sand Lizards were to open 4A-4 Conference play against defending league champion Ozark on Friday.

Skaggs said Dardanelle was able to hold a limited practice Tuesday afternoon with the players who aren’t in quarantine, but there weren’t enough to field a team Friday.

Texarkana Coach Barry Norton said he was calling teams across Arkansas and Texas to find a game for Friday but unsuccessful. The Razorbacks’ next game is Oct. 2 against Camden Fairview at home.

Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette staff writer Rick Fires contributed to this report.