Friday Night Lights a work in progress
UIL, coaches want to provide the full experience but are still working on how to make it safe
Texas’ North Shore and California’s De La Salle — a pair of teams from states that aren’t shy about being boastful of their high school football — are scheduled to meet to open the 2020 season.
The much-anticipated game — like all of Friday Night Lights across Texas — hangs in the balance because of COVID-19.
It’s possible this marquee matchup takes place without coronavirus-related issues springing up — De La Salle’s cross-country travel to Galena Park ISD Stadium or players getting through summer training and practice without being infected, to name a few.
It’s also possible the game is played inside a half-empty stadium with a neutered atmosphere. Any excitement over the 2020 high school football season in June is tempered by the unknown waiting in August.
“The pageantry of Texas high school football goes well beyond the football players and the X’s and O’s,” said North Shore head football coach Jon Kay, whose team is the two-time Class 6A Division I state champions. “We want those kids in the band to have their experience — the dance team and our ROTC and our cheerleaders and the student sections. Especially at North Shore, that’s what it’s about.”
How can safety measures against a virus be enforced in a contact sport? How full, if at all, will stands be inside high school football stadiums? What will happen if an asymptomatic player or coach infects others?
The questions are aplenty concerning the coronavirus’ effect on the state’s favorite pastime.
Only a vaccine provides peace of mind this fall, Kay said. He could envision spectators exercising caution in attending games, even if restrictions are relaxed. The state’s three largest high school athletics governing bodies — the University Interscholastic League, the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools and the Southwest Preparatory Conference — have not addressed stadium capacity for games yet. Gov. Greg Abbott has for professional and college stadiums, stating they can open at 50 percent capacity.
Perhaps games will be consumed from living rooms more than usual. The virus could change the way the sport is covered by media, especially on television.
The UIL typically restricts Friday night games from being televised — a measure Kay could see being relaxed considering the times. The league lifts those restrictions for a bevy of seasonopening games in a partnership with Fox Sports Southwest, and Thursday and Saturday games are televised by numerous outlets throughout the season. Otherwise, games are regularly broadcast by streaming and radio outlets such as Texan Live and the Texas Sports Radio Network.
“Our jobs as commentators on the radio and on TV, whatever the sport is, is going to be relied on a lot more because some people may want to stay at home for a little just because of precautions,” said Brian Adams, a former Huntsville High School and Sam Houston State quarterback who now calls both teams’ games as a color commentator for 101.7 KSAM. “It’s going to be up to us to do a good job and be more descriptive to make these fans that are at home listening to get a sense as if they were there in person.”
“We need this,” Adams said. He cites no event bringing masses together like Texas high school football does on Friday nights.
The concerns are not lost on Adams, though, and Summer Creek High School Principal Brent McDonald shares the sentiment.
Athletic directors are working on contingency plans for the 2020 season, and principals like McDonald are trying to solve everyday school life: limited capacity in classrooms, transportation, lunch periods and extracurricular activities.
Friday Night Lights — the games, the band, the drill team, the cheerleaders — is a highly romanticized part of the high school experience in Texas but the overall changes related to the virus hit the entire school community, especially seniors.
“These are memories that I do not want them to miss out for the rest of their lives,” McDonald said. “I am saddened by the spring of 2020 and what has transpired. I don’t want it to continue. I understand safety first. I get that. I just hope we can find a way to get it done.”