The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Area boys basketball in Cuyahoga County moves ahead
With the novel coronavirus pandemic ongoing, state and county leaders continue to monitor COVID-19 case numbers across the state.
As of late, coronavirus case numbers have spiked across the state and on Nov. 16, the state of Ohio surpassed 300,000 coronavirus cases. Gov. Mike DeWine issued a statewide 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew that will go into effect beginning Nov. 19 and will last for at least three weeks.
Cuyahoga County issued a stay-at-home advisory to residents Nov. 18 that will last through Dec. 17.
At his coronavirus briefing Nov. 17, Gov. DeWine said that high school winter sports “so far” will proceed.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association reaffirmed its plan to move forward with winter sports in a memo sent to member schools Nov. 18.
Several schools across Northeast Ohio have paused athletics. Some of these schools include Mentor, Euclid, Shaker Heights and others.
Despite the uncertainty, the five area Cuyahoga County boys basketball programs in the Morning Journal coverage area — Bay, Fairview, North Olmsted, Olmsted Falls and Westlake — have not given any indication that they are pausing their seasons and are moving ahead on schedule.
Bay, Fairview and Westlake confirmed to The Morning Journal practices and other boys basketball activities continue.
Bay
“As of Nov. 18, we are still good to go,” Bay coach Jared Shetzer said. “We’ve been very fortunate not to have a lot of spread at all within our sports. As far as playing games and continuing to scrimmage, we are good to go.”
Shetzer gave credit to the leadership within the high school and school district for their continued support and communication.
The eighth-year head coach added that his team has been vigilant with their safety protocols and have done a good job doing what they can to stay safe. Every day, the players partake in a thorough health screening and wear masks as much as possible.
“Our kids have done a really nice job of wearing their masks at practice unless they are engaged in five-on-five,” Shetzer said. “They’ve also done a good job with washing their uniforms, sanitizing their hands and taking all of those precautions.”
A normal practice procedure for the Rockets has proved to be a helpful tool for the team. Prior to the pandemic, Shetzer’s practice plans were divided into
five-minute increments, which works well for social distancing purposes. His players also use the same basketball every day and are responsible for sanitizing the ball when they are finished using it.
“We’ve also done a good job of contact tracing, keeping track of temperatures every day and who has what going on every day,” Shetzer said. “That has really helped us to mitigate a lot of the issues that we could have.”
Fairview
The Warriors are full speed ahead but will have to get used to not having any fans in the building as the school made the decision not to allow any fans to attend games. However, games will be broadcasted online.
“It’s a big adjustment for us,” Fairview coach Ryan Barry said. “We’ve been fortunate enough during my time here to have a good fan following. (We’ve) sold out a lot of home games and have built some excitement about basketball throughout the community. We graduated some very good seniors but we did a nice job building that momentum. It’s a shame that we won’t have those fans but the kids are excited to play.”
Westlake
The Demons are continuing their march toward the season. Coach Jeff Huber and his team are continuing to practice as the beginning of the regular season draws near.
“We have been uninterrupted so far, fortunately,” Huber said. “As of now, we are going to continue to go forward and hopefully that will continue to be the case. All of the conversations that I’ve had with our athletic director have been positive and consistent with the message that we are continuing to move forward with athletics. I know those things could change at a moment’s notice depending on certain factors surrounding COVID-19. However, I’ve received no indication that (we are stopping) and are full speed ahead.”