Morrilton game off
Alma announced Wednesday that its home game against Morrilton this week has been canceled because of covid-19 concerns.
Athletic Director Doug Loughridge said that there are “an increased number” of players that are either covid-19 positive cases or are quarantined.
Coach Rusty Bush said that almost half of the Airedales roster is unavailable because of covid-19 cases, quarantining or noncoronavirus injuries.
The game was scheduled for Friday at Airedale Stadium in Alma. It is the second 5A-West game to be affected by covid-19 this week. Greenbrier at Pea Ridge has also been canceled because of Pea Ridge’s current covid-19 situation.
“The No. 1 concern is always the health and safety of our students,” Loughridge said. “With so many players unavailable this Friday due to covid-19, we are faced with a number of players being put in a position where their safety as a football player is at greater risk.
We would have several players having to play a position that they are not familiar with, and several players that are younger and going up against larger and more experienced players on the opposing team. This is a safety issue that we are not comfortable with.”
Bush agreed with Loughridge on the Airedales (1-5, 0-3 5A-West) not playing Friday.
“As much as we would like to play the game, we will always consider the safety of our student/ athletes first,” Bush said. “This shortage has hit especially hard with certain units. We have a few players out with injuries, but most of it is students that are quarantined because of the pandemic.”
The Airedales’ next scheduled game, set for Oct. 23 against Vilonia, is still on as of Wednesday, Bush said.
Bush added that the Airedales will continue to practice with the players that are available.
“We will bring them in,” Bush said. “We still have school. We’ll treat it like a bye week. We want to create opportunities for them.”