It was clearly a great kickoff to the long-awaited season
High school football in Wisconsin started with a boom Friday. Literally.
St. John's Northwestern Military Academy started the season with a late afternoon Trailways Conference battle with Fall River/Rio. With its military background and sprawling campus, St. John's offers a backdrop that is unique for prep sports in the state.
There are no cheerleaders. There is no mascot on the sideline.
There is, however a cannon and its blasts can be heard around the campus every time the home team scores a touchdown. It's a job St. John's junior Qiming Yang and sophomore Arden
Prevo are honored to be assigned.
The two were among the thousands of people around the state who celebrated the return of prep football Friday even though the experience was like none most had experienced.
Kenosha Bradford played host to Franklin in front of an empty stadium. Other places like Oak Creek allowed a limited number of home fans, no fans from the visiting school. Even the schools that allowed fans in from both schools did so cautiously, limiting tickets or passes to 2-4 for family members of the player or coach and then urging them to social distance when sitting on the bleachers.
Fans come up with Plan B
At Whitefish Bay those who couldn't get in lined the fence that surrounds the stadium to get a glimpse of the action. At Menomonee Falls, there was tailgating and games of cornhole before the game and come kickoff, fans sat on the top of the roofs of their cars to get a glimpse of the field some 50 yards away.
“We'd typically be in the student section cheering,” Falls junior Jay Turner said.
“I feel like this is the best we can do to stay safe,” said Devyn Orr, another Falls junior who watched the game from the parking lot with Turner and a handful of friends. “It's better than being in there and getting a chance of getting COVID-19. I feel like this is the best opportunity we have.”
Students weren't the only ones filling the parking lot.
Parents were in there. So was Barry Dempsey, a former assistant football coach in the district.
He and Ralph Langer sat on lawn chairs in the back of a pick-up truck watching the game. It was one of the best seats in the lot but honestly that wasn't saying much.
The two watched a play in the distance and then looked at a live stream of the game on Langer's phone for a better look at what happened.
“There have been a number of games canceled,” Langer said. “In the northern part of Wisconsin a lot of schools didn't even start football. Kimberly isn't playing. The Green Bay schools aren't playing.”
Celebrating seniors
Thirty-two percent of schools in the area are not playing football this fall due to COVID-19 concerns and issues. Other schools like Wilmot and Kettle Moraine were sidelined in Week 1 due to COVID-19 issues but are expected to eventually take the field.
There will probably be more teams/ schools that have to suspend competition at some point. No school, no matter how hard it tries, is immune from the possibility.
That uncertainly is why some schools aren't waiting until later in the season to have Senior Night.
New Berlin West, a 19-6 winner over Port Washington, celebrated its 17-player senior class Friday. The school, however, honored the 2021 class best by getting it a game. The date on West's schedule was open after Pius XI opted to try WIAA's alternate fall season, but near the start of practice coach Ben Chossek filled the day with Port Washington, which lost its opponent for the day (Ripon) to the "spring" season.
With the regular season cut from nine to seven games being able to fill those open dates is especially important.
“I think it was hugely important,” West coach Ben Chossek said. “I think there was a lot of time that nobody knew if we'd be able to do this. Nobody knows for sure how long we'll be able to continue, but to be able to try to do that and give kids a chance to be with their friends and compete and have a senior year was really, really important, especially after what happened last spring.”
St. John's won its opener, 26-7. The four touchdowns scored equaled for cannon blasts for Yang and Prevo.
On the field working with the chain gang was an unexpected guest for the start of the football season.
Eric Gordon should be home in Brisbane, Australia, now. He dropped off his son, Jonah, in August and planned to return home a few days later.
The day before his departure, however, his flight was canceled, setting him up for what is amounting to an indefinite stay in the United States due to challenges of entering his homeland during the pandemic. A positive has been his first extensive up-close look of American football.
Friday, Gordon was on hand for his son's first high school game. He was also on the job, working with the chain crew and learning the game at the same time.