Gridiron action returns tonight between Summerville, Mariposa
The Summerville Bears will be the first high school varsity football team in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties to see real action in more than a year when they hit the field to take on the Mariposa Grizzlies tonight at the Mariposa County Fairgrounds.
Plans for a shortened Mother Lode League football season were stifled last week due to a California Department of Public Health directive that would not allow Tuolumne County schools to compete against Amador County schools because the two counties do not border each other, but Summerville High School Athletic Director Jennifer Osterhout said that Bears’ Head Coach Sean Leveroos got to work immediately finding another opponent.
“We were originally scheduled to play Amador, but because the state hasn’t given the final OK for us to play a county that we do not border, we started looking for other games,” she said. “Our varsity coach Sean Leveroos had been talking to Mariposa if they could fill games, so he contacted them and it worked out for both schools.”
The game is scheduled to start about 7 p.m., though only immediate family members of players will be allowed to attend in person. Osterhout said all of the players did their first round of COVID-19 testing this week and were cleared to play after the results came back negative. They are required to test each week they have a game and show negative
results two days before a game.
Many high schools throughout the region are planning shortened football seasons in the coming weeks after being unable to play as normal in the fall and winter due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The state released new guidance for youth sports two weeks ago that allows the return of outdoor contact sports following certain requirements related to testing and preventing the spread of the disease, including counties that are in the most restrictive purple tier like Tuolumne.
Summerville’s varsity football squad is next scheduled to play its first home game at Thorsted Field in Tuolumne on March 19 against Big Valley Christian School from Modesto. They are then scheduled to host Calaveras High School on March 26, before finishing out the four-game season on April 2 at home against their cross-town rival Sonora High School.
Rusty Price, athletic director for Sonora High, said the only games currently scheduled for the Wildcats’ varsity football team is the game against Summerville followed by one at home against Calaveras High School on April 9 due to a lack of other opponents available or willing to play them in counties that border Tuolumne.
“We’ve been bugging schools daily about it,” he said. “We’re hoping someone will give us a chance, but we’re still trying.”
Tonight’s game between Summerville and Mariposa will be live streamed by Norcal Sports TV at https:// www.norcalsportstv.com. See Tuesday’s Union Democrat for coverage and photos.