A HOLIDAY WITHOUT FOOTBALL
Pandemic throws wrench into high school sports
The third week of November was approaching, and for Joe Gallagher, that has always meant at least one thing. It meant it was time to be grateful for football.
He appreciated it when he was in high school at St. James, when every Thanksgiving morning he would enjoy playing against Chester at Widener University, amid the fans, the alumni, the spirit. Since 1992, when he began coaching at Haverford, he has enjoyed the holiday rivalry with Upper Darby, helping to extend a tradition that began in 1921.
Then, there is this year, the virus year, when there will be no Delaware County Thanksgiving games, no bands, no cheerleaders, no upsets or routs.
At least, however, there was a season, abbreviated but achieved, appreciated and remembered.
“I give extreme credit to our kids and all the kids in the league for just hanging in there,” Gallagher said. “They kept hope, basically. And that’s all we had for a while, hope. So it was quite a testament to them. And just get a modified season of six games, this being Thanksgiving, I’ll tell you appropriately: I am very, very thankful for all the people involved, from the administrators, to everyone, for allowing this to happen.”
That feeling is typical among coaches, players and fans around the Central League and in other corners of Delaware County, where high school football was limited in 2020, yet nonetheless valuable for all of the usual reasons. The kids played. The coaches coached. The parents watched, even though they basically were the only fans in the stands. The newspapers covered. The lights glowed. The P.A. announcers resonated. The players, particularly the seniors, were rewarded for their effort.
The Central League found a way to present a five-game schedule before a modified, one-game “postseason” based on intra-league seed
ing. That was the set-up for a Central League championship game between 5A representative Marple Newtown and 6A leader Garnet Valley Wednesday nght. And for Haverford, that will mean a home game Saturday against Strath Haven, the runners-up in the Class 6A and 5A divisions, respectively.
Meanwhile, Upper Darby was to face a Wednesday encounter with Penncrest in a collision of fifthplace teams. In that swirl, and with the fact that they played in the regular season, the 99th HaverfordUpper Darby Thanksgiving game was rescheduled for 2021.
That was a big sacrifice in a season of plenty, some schools sacrificing more than others. The Del Val League did not play fall football at all, opting for a spring schedule. Gone, then, were the ever-popular Ridley-Interboro and ChichesterSun Valley affairs … and, acknowledges Academy Park coach Jason Vosheski, much more.
How many Knights seniors, for instance, were unable to show their skills to scouts and recruiters? And how many, then, would lose collegeeducation opportunities?
“That’s the hard part,” Vosheski said. “Like most schools, we had some seniors who this year needed to shine a little bit. And we have one really good player who already had some Division I offers, Isaiah Rogers. And just by him playing, probably more and more notice would have been given to our school. So maybe more kids could have gotten some kind of notoriety. “Nobody really knows.”
The Central League raced to finish its truncated season, though it was decided early that none of its teams would be taking part in the District 1 and PIAA tournaments. Sun Valley, of the Ches-Mont League, had a three-game season, the rest of the games postponed, typically at inconvenient times on Friday afternoons as the result of failed virus tests.
In the Catholic League, BonnerPrendergast was a clear state playoff contender, won three games, then was ruled out of the playoffs by a failed COVID-19 test. At least the Friars were to return Wednesday for a belated and unplanned finale against Archbishop Wood.
Archbishop Carroll squeezed in five games, Cardinal O’Hara just one. Episcopal Academy and Haverford School were involved in a three-game, non-championship Inter-Ac round robin.
It was not a normal schedule. But it was football. And it was played. And to the players and coaches and fans, it mattered.
“The way I feel about it was, to just have a season at all was a blessing,” Garnet Valley coach Mike Ricci said. “It gave the kids a chance to interact and to have some normalcy. They were able to work out and play, and for one year, it was fun. The Central League made the best of the situation.”
For the coaches, it was particularly challenging. Beyond designing offenses and defenses, they had to enforce new social behav
ior patterns.
“We had to make sure their masks were on,” Ricci said. “We had to make sure they were distancing. We had to make sure they were avoiding crowds on weekends, that kind of thing.”
As with any crisis, there would be an opportunity for growth. To Ricci and Gallagher, among others, at least one new habit will be worth keeping after the pandemic: Video team meetings, via Zoom.
“Some of our coaches would have to come from long distances,” Ricci said. “But we learned that we can Zoom our Sunday night coaches’ meeting. And after we play Friday night, rather than have a team meeting early Saturday morning, we can Zoom that, too.
“We’ve found that can be very effective.”
At one point in the fall, it was
roundly believed that Delco football could not be effective. But it happened. The stands were dotted only with family members. Cheerleaders were at most events, rocking masks. There were some bands, mostly in the stands.
Other than that, it was strangely … normal?
“I know this from being a player at Tennessee,” Gallagher said. “I played in front of thousands of people every Saturday. But from a players’ perspective, once the game starts, it’s not that big a factor. You’ll notice the crowd after a touchdown, or when you take a pause in the action. But as a player, there is so much focus that it’s not that big a deal.
“Fortunately our parents got to make it to the games, and that was very important. And we all pulled off a Senior Night, which was a very good thing. So, we’re
just lucky, man. It was different, obviously. But just being able to play is the overriding factor.”
There were disappointments, including failed virus tests. Though healthy, Gallagher missed the Fords’ last game due to contact tracing. There were cancellations. Concession stands and some scholarship opportunities were shuttered. But there was no reported medical catastrophe, and that was the most important victory of all.
“It’s a weird season but the
kids are still having fun playing football and that’s what it’s all about,” Strath Haven coach Kevin Clancy said Friday after a victory over Penncrest. “The kids have worked hard, they’re easy to coach, they’ve got a great attitude and that’s made it fun.
“We’re a week from getting through this and we have not had an exposure on the field transmitted from football. I feel like it’s been a successful season from that standpoint.”
That was the No. 1 standpoint.
There were others.
“I’m proud that we were able to get these kids some memories,” said Pat Raf
ferty, the athletic director at Sun Valley. “And I am proud that the whole district kind of came together to do that for the kids. In high school sports, a lot of it is just about the memories that you make. And I look at my role here as the A.D. as to just provide those memories for the kids.
“I’m proud that we were able to get some games in. The kids did a great job following all the protocols. The coaches followed all the protocols. Overall, people will look back and say, ‘You know what? This year wasn’t what we’d hoped it would be.’ But we will look back with pride at how this year went.”