Santa Fe cancels opener
Santa Fe High football coach Dave Pierson confirmed Tuesday that his team has canceled its season opener March 19 against La Serna because a player on the team tested positive for the coronavirus.
All of the Santa Fe players will have to go through the county’s quarantine process for 10 days and the team will have to stop all activities during that time.
Last week, two local football teams, both from the Pacific League, were forced to cancel their league and season openers that were scheduled next week. Arcadia and Crescenta Valley each had a player test positive for the coronavirus, forcing Arcadia to cancel its opener with Muir and Crescenta Valley to cancel its game against Burroughs.
Pierson said Santa Fe learned of the positive test Monday. The team hadn’t started mandatory team testing. The player tested positive on his own after not feeling well, and the team had to take the necessary protective steps and move into quarantine.
At the most, Santa Fe will have three games left, with its next scheduled game against California at Pioneer High on March 26.
It was another tough blow for a team that was looking forward to its first game in nearly a year and a half, and after being without high school sports since last March due to the pandemic.
“It’s devastating,” Pierson said. “We talked to our team about it, they were very distraught. It’s another setback, it’s another thorn in their side.
“We had become very optimistic about our upcoming game, and to have this setback again is hard. This group of seniors has been challenged and tested, but we will pick up the pieces, move forward and stay optimistic.”
It was also a tough blow for La Serna, which has been left scrambling to find an opponent to play next week.
“It was extremely difficult to let the team know after practice yesterday that we’re not playing next week,” La Serna coach Andy George said. “But I’m so impressed with their resilience and bravery to continue to work and persevere.
“I told the team this is a situation where we will discuss these things weekly and they will have to learn how to adapt to whatever situation comes about. I’m just so proud of how hard they keep fighting, knowing that things could change daily.”
La Serna’s next scheduled game is against El Rancho on March 26 at California High School.
La Serna and Santa Fe are both part of the Del Rio League whose teams are playing a four-game league schedule this season. Due to the league cancellation, a league champion will not be crowned this season. The league agreed that if any game was canceled due to the coronavirus, there would be no league champion.