Covid again creating undue havoc

Imagine a coach being told hours before tipoff of a big game three players, including two starters, would have to sit out because of contact tracing.

That’s, essentially, what happened to Gravette girls coach Will Pittman before Tuesday’s 4A-1 Conference game at home against Farmington. Trying to beat top-ranked Farmington is tough enough, but doing so without a full roster is like trying to catch a speeding locomotive with a handcar.

Predictably, Farmington won the game 74-53. But Gravette competed to the end, which drew praise from Pittman and Gravette fans watching the game at the Lions’ Den.

“That group right there fought, scratched and clawed against a team that is No. 1 in the state for a reason,” Pittman said. “We kept punching, kept punching, and that’s something this group always does.”

We’re all frustrated from the nearly three-year battle with Covid, either directly or indirectly, starting with the front-line workers in hospitals where beds are full with patients. In our sports department, Henry Apple contacted Covid around Christmas in 2020 and his wife caught Covid a second time just a few days ago. Chip Souza, our sports editor, is currently in isolation after contacting Covid last week.

For high school coaches and players, Covid and contact tracing that force even healthy players to miss games have emerged again as the enemy.

The Valley Springs and Elkins boys were scheduled for a showdown in the 3A-1 Conference two weeks ago at the Elks gymnasium, but that game was canceled because of Covid-related issues. A makeup game was scheduled for last Wednesday but that game, too, was postponed, mostly because of inclement weather that moved into the area.

Elkins and Valley Springs decided to flip-flop and play at Valley Springs last night before finally facing Valley Springs at home on Friday, Feb. 4.

That’s the plan, anyway. We’ll see.

The Fort Smith Northside girls received a one-two punch from Covid and the weather.

Northside agreed to a makeup game at Mount St. Mary in Little Rock on a Wednesday night after their originally-scheduled game was postponed from the week before. But just as the Lady Bears loaded up in freezing weather for the return trip to Fort Smith, the team was hit with another blow.

“We came out to the bus and it wouldn’t start,” Northside coach Rickey Smith said. “We had to shuffle things around and rode in their minivan. They allowed us to borrow it. We needed that game before we play North Little Rock. It was critical. That’s why we went on a Wednesday night.”

The disruptions on the sports calendar have prompted coaches and athletic directors to be creative and proactive again in finding games. Bergman was facing an offnight on Tuesday after its scheduled 3A-1 Conference with Lincoln was postponed but the Panthers found a non-conference replacement in Flippin.

“They were looking for a game, and with all the game cancellations and players out in quarantine, we’re just out of shape,” Bergman boys coach Bo Martin said. “It really was a no-brainer. If we can play, we can get our kids back in shape and back into a rhythm. It was a last-minute deal right there.”

At this point, I will reiterate what the health care professionals suggest to us every day: Get vaccinated, get your booster shots, and mask up. These measures may not keep you from catching Covid but the added protection could prevent you from getting very sick and ending up in the hospital.

We certainly don’t want to go back to the days with mass cancellations and a spring schedule for all high school sports that was mostly wiped out. That was painful, especially for those seniors who lost their final opportunity to compete in high school sports.

So, what will the high school sports calendar look like going forward?

Who knows? All we can do is hope for the best and do what we can to keep everyone safe.