Lake needs Week 4 game after US cancels

Lake Catholic needs a new Week 4 football opponent on short notice after University has to canceled their originally scheduled game. The reason for the cancellation is not COVID-related.

The Lake Catholic football team is looking for a Week 4 opponent after University canceled its game with the Cougars.

University coach Ben Malbasa confirmed to The News-Herald that he called Lake coach Marty Gibbons the afternoon of Sept. 7 to cancel the Sept. 11 game.

“There is no game, that is correct,” Malbasa said. “It’s health-related, but it is not COVID-related.

“The school is fine. All we’re doing is pausing football activities this week. We’ll resume on Monday.”

The cancellation sent the Lake Catholic staff into an immediate two-minute drill to find an opponent for this weekend. Finding one might not be a major chore, since there were numerous cancellations in each of the first three weeks of the season because of the coronavirus, and likely will be more this week.

Finding a team to replace US on the schedule likely isn’t going to be as problematic as formulating and scouting for a game plan on short notice.

“We’re digging right now,” Gibbons said. “It’s like free agency, finding what’s out there. It’s nuts. We’ve reached out to some people, but haven’t heard back yet. Some have reached out from out of state, but we’d like to stay in-state.”

Gibbons said he is confident he and his staff will be able to find an opponent to play, whether it’s Friday or Saturday.

“Ultimately, I think we will,” he said. “I don’t care if we find out the day before. It’ll make things tougher, but this is happening so much these days, we’re used to adjusting at this point.”

Lake is 1-2 this season, losing to Dover and Erie McDowell to start the season before getting in the win column last week against North.

Gibbons said he’d like to find a game this week in hopes of continuing the ascension his team has been experiencing the past few weeks.

“I definitely think we’re improving a ton,” he said. “It’s good to see things start to click. I feel good with where we’re at right now.”