COVID-19 sidelines Westfield and Perry football teams

Perry High School and Westfield both announced earlier in the week they’ll be suspending all varsity football activities following positive COVID-19 cases.

Perry won’t return until September 26 and Westfield is slated to return September 28.

The cancellation follows Westfield’s season opening win over Trinity Christian and interrupted the beginning of a new era under Head Coach Rob Fitzpatrick. Their games against Stratford Academy and Baconton Charter are canceled and will attempt to be played on a later date.

“I’m disappointed for the kids but we’re going to do what the school, the state tells us to do. You know, you have to deal with things as it comes and it’s just a crazy time right now. We’re not the only school going through things like this. It’s statewide and countrywide. We’re just going to do our part, get it done right and get right back after it.”

Westfield is set to play Southland Academy for their first game back on Oct. 2.

For Perry, the cancellation follows a 0-2 start to the season. While the Panthers were looking forward to get out their funk before region play, it looks like their first game back will be against Rutland, a region opponent. Their games against Hampton and Veterans were canceled and will be attempted to be made up on another date.

This puts Perry in a tough predicament. While they need games to find their offensive rhythm, they’re now without games and practice until the Sept. 26. They’ll have a week to prepare for their game against Rutland on Friday, Oct. 9.

Numerous cancellations have happened around the state since the season kicked off and it brings the question of what’ll happen if it keeps going on. Well, that’s still unsure, but Georgia High School Football Daily reported how the postseason may look. GHSF Daily said the GHSA won’t have a choice to reschedule, teams who can’t participate must forfeit and their season is over as the opposing team advances to the following round.

Not to mention with so many regular season games being canceled, some teams may end up with an odd number of region games compared to their region counterparts, which adds even more dysfunction to this season.

On top of it all, there are cautions from government health officials regarding the upcoming flu season this fall. Football’s regular season ends in November and the postseason goes into December, so it’ll be interesting how this all unfolds this year.

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