<p><em>We’ve all endured more than four months with hardly any live sports to speak of, and the fall season has long been serving as the light at the end of the tunnel for fans all across the country.</em></p><p><em>But what if that light goes out?</em></p><p><em>The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t going away anytime soon; case numbers are rising again in most states, including Indiana, and summer workouts have been either restricted or put on hold in many places. Many colleges have either cancelled or shortened their fall sports seasons — and on Monday, North Central High School (which plays in the same conference as Center Grove) suspended all athletic activities until further notice.</em></p><p><em>So with that in mind, it’s fair to ask about the doomsday scenario: What happens if there is no high school football in Johnson County this fall?</em></p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p><em>In the second of a three-part series, we examine what the fallout would look like for the community as a whole — band members, cheerleaders, local businesses and everyone else that plans around those Friday night spectacles.</em></p><p>On Friday nights in early fall, Lorrie Gray and her husband Greg load up their Ella’s Frozen Yogurt trailer and prepare to set up a remote sales location at either Center Grove or Greenwood, depending on who is playing football at home that week. Some of the most heated debates the couple has are centered around who gets to go work the game while the other stays behind to mind the store.</p><p>"We both like working the football games," Lorrie said.</p><p>High school football games in Johnson County — and in most other places in America — aren’t just about football. They’re community gatherings, bringing together not just football fans but band parents, cheer parents, students who want to hang out with their friends and others just out to see and be seen or merely soak up the spectacle.</p><p>"Many communities in Indiana and around the country really look at that as a centerpiece for a lot of things going on on Friday nights in their community," Greenwood assistant superintendent Todd Pritchett said.</p><p>"There’s just nothing like it," Gray added. "Half the people probably watch the game, and the other half are probably just having fun, visiting friends. Especially the kids. It’s just the place to go on a Friday night."</p><p>But what happens if it isn’t a place to go this fall? The COVID-19 pandemic already swallowed up the spring sports season in Indiana, and with college sports teams already shortening or scratching their fall seasons, fears that the same could happen at the high school level are starting to creep in.</p><p>The effects of that would be felt not just by the athletes and coaches, but by the entire community — especially when it comes to football.</p><p>Whiteland marching band director Pete Sampson has considered the impact it would have on his students. A wipeout of fall sports would deprive bands not only of their own opportunities to compete against their peers, but also the chance to showcase their talents for the community as a whole during pregame and halftime performances on Fridays.</p><p>"They just want to perform," Sampson said. "That’s what we do this for, to perform. And to perform for your home crowd — while we obviously have lots of marching band parents in the audience watching their kids at a football game, a lot of those people, that’s the only chance they get to see us, especially in our own community."</p><p>"My daughter’s in the marching band," Whiteland athletic director Dave Edens noted. "She loves Friday nights. Every little feeder-league team who gets to run out on the field. … There’s a community event tied to every single home game that we have."</p><p>And that’s why the potential loss of it is still difficult for many to come to grips with, even as that threat becomes greater with each passing week. Edinburgh AD David Walden is one of many who are trying remain positive and to cling to the belief that fall sports will go forward as planned — perhaps in part because they can’t imagine it any other way.</p><p>"We need it," Walden said. "I think, our community and our school, that we need athletics to bring the community and have a sense of belonging again and have some type of sense of normal."</p><p>And while every sport certainly has its place in the grand scheme of things, and athletes across the board — particularly seniors — would be crushed if the worst-case scenario does become a reality, there’s little denying that the loss would be felt most acutely on Friday nights.</p><p>"I can’t even put my thumb on the mental effect that it will have on our community," Center Grove coach Eric Moore said. "Not (just) football parents and football players; that’s catastrophic, just like it was for our baseball and track and tennis kids this spring. But for the kids that love going to the games because they’re kids, and the guys that work at the local hardware or Speedway and want to come and watch the guys play that they see come in their store every day, and take a lot of pride in that — and you’re taking that away from them. It’s just a huge social event.</p><p>"Parents are there to support kids, and students are there to support their friends and other students, and … old alumni that still live here from past teams. It’s one of the greatest American traditions. And I’m not knocking any other sports, because they all have traditions and they’re all good … but I can’t imagine the ramifications on the school."</p><p>Many are trying their best not to imagine those ramifications, particularly those with the most to lose. Nicole Delp coaches Center Grove’s cheerleaders and has an emotional investment in her squad being able to perform at games — but she also has a son, Connor, who is a senior starter for the Trojans on the gridiron.</p><p>Though she’s determined to remain upbeat about the situation, Delp acknowledges it would be a major letdown if the season isn’t played.</p><p>"The (senior) cheerleaders, I’ve known these girls since they were very young," she said, "and we’re all trying to be positive — because if we’re done this year, they don’t get another year. So I think that’s the hard part — there is no next year."</p><p>While there are major financial implications across the board should the season be lost — several local marching bands, for instance, derive a good chunk of their revenue from running the concession stands on Friday nights, and athletic departments rely on ticket income to keep their budgets balanced — the bigger hit overall, and the one felt by more people, might be the emotional one.</p><p>"From a sales perspective," Gray said, "we’ll be okay. I think the biggest impact is morale. There’s nothing like a Center Grove Friday night football game, number one. Number two, we love when Ella’s is there, because it just affirms that we’re part of the community. … It’s just fun to be part of that whole energy. … Kids know where we’re at and we get a line a mile long, and that whole environment is just a blast."</p><p>The cliché that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone has certainly held true during this pandemic; those who might have taken spring sports for granted in the past certainly grew a greater appreciation for them after losing them this year. The lack of live sporting events these last four months has only heightened the desire to get to the fall, which many of us have long considered the light at the end of the tunnel.</p><p>With the scheduled start of most fall sports now just five weeks away, that light is growing closer — but as COVID-19 numbers start ticking back up in Indiana, clouds are starting to obscure that light somewhat. The effects of a second lost sports season in a row would hit even harder than the first, especially if football is one of the casualties.</p><p>Friday nights in the fall aren’t just about the games themselves.</p><p>"It really is a sense of community," Delp said, "and no disrespect to spring sports, but Center Grove is — it’s football. So as a whole, that’s a big loss, all the way down to those Bantam kids; I know they’re starting this week. I think we’re in a situation where if we don’t play football — this is already really real, but it’s going to become <em>really</em> real."</p>
