The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
OAC suspends sports through Dec. 31
The Ohio Athletic Conference won’t hold athletic contests until 2021. But area football players say they’ll be ready whenever their season begins.
A national championship won in the spring is just as sweet as one won in the fall.
That’s the mindset area players are carrying after the Ohio Athletic Conference announced on July 24 that all athletic competitions are hereby suspended through Dec. 31 in response to the spreading COVID-19 pandemic.
That means football, golf, cross country, soccer, tennis and volleyball are all on hold for the time being. The OAC said it has plans to resume sports in January 2021. Different models of how sports will resume are being discussed, the league said.
Additionally, winter sports such as basketball, indoor track and field, swimming and diving and wrestling are also suspended for the remainder of the 2020 calendar year.
The North Coast Athletic Conference announced a similar decision on July 24, suspending all intercollegiate athletics through the 2020 calendar year.
“The OAC believes we can continue to provide an excellent experience for our student-athletes,” said Tim Gleason, Commissioner of OAC, in a news release, “while continuing to make the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, staff, families, fans and campus communities our highest priority.”
The OAC said in the release, “While competition will not occur in Fall 2020, the Conference is planning a robust engagement of student-athletes during the fall semester with conditioning and preparation for competition according to CDC guidelines and NCAA criteria in conjunction with local health guidelines.”
A trio of area athletes — Mount Union football player Josh Petruccelli and John Carroll football players Michael Canganelli and Jake Floriea — take that as they will have an opportunity to play their football seasons in the spring time.
And while the OAC’s announcement on July 24 hit the area players like an unblocked linebacker on a blitz, they are taking the news in stride.
“Coach (Rick) Finotti has built a culture here that when tough times happen, you work harder,” said Canganelli, a Mayfield product and JCU running back. “We’re getting after it in the weight room. We’re not slowing up. We’ll be ready when we play in the spring — hopefully that’s when we’ll play.”
Just down the street a little ways, Petrucelli — a running back from Perry who plays at Mount Union — is looking at things the same way.
Come spring, it’s go-time. “I feel like now that they did move it out of the fall, we have a better chance of a season happening in the spring,” Petruccelli said. “With everything going on with the virus, I hope they’ve got a vaccine ready in time, everyone gets it and we can play this season in the spring.”
If the OAC does indeed hold to its plans to resume all suspended fall and winter sports on Jan. 1, it’s going to make for a busy calendar of athletic events. Three sports seasons jammed into a handful of months.
“It’s gonna be hard to find times to practice and whatnot if it comes to fruition like that,” Petruccelli said with a laugh. But I’m excited for it. At least we’d be playing.”
Earlier in July, the OAC announced that it would be playing only conference games, which lopped off the one nonconference game each league football team was to play this fall.
Mount Union was scheduled to open its season Sept. 19 at Baldwin Wallace, while John Carroll was to open Sept. 19 at home against Otterbein.
That announcement was made as part of a directive that the OAC was pushing back the start of all fall sports until Sept. 19.
Now that directive has been extended through Dec. 31.
“You know — when I saw teams dropping out like the entire Ivy League, it kind of prepared me for this today,” Canganelli said. “I kind of knew this was going to happen, the way things were going. It’s very disappointing, honestly. But it’s also motivation.”
Floriea, a quarterback from Mentor who now is the QB at John Carroll, agreed.
“There was definitely a lot of disappointment today,” Floriea said. “The initial blow of the announcement sucked. It wasn’t what any of us wanted to hear. But then you sit for about 10 minutes and you realize you’ve got a few months to get ready, and you’re excited for football in the spring.”
And absence, they say, makes the heart grow fonder.
So when/if football teams reconvene on Jan. 1, expect some players hungry for competition to begin.
“You know, when something like football is taken away from you, you appreciate it that much more,” Canganelli said. “When you don’t see your teammates, when you don’t see your coaches, you appreciate how good those times were when you WERE together.
“Today hurts, there’s a sadness, but it also serves as motivation. We’ll be ready when we get back at it.”