Through the first eight weeks of the high school football season, 135 of Indiana’s 320 teams had missed out on at least one game due to coronavirus-related issues — but no Johnson County schools had been impacted.
That all changed in a hurry this week with the cancellation of two scheduled contests involving three local teams.
On Thursday evening, Franklin put out a press release stating that it was canceling its regular-season finale against Decatur Central. Athletic director Bill Doty said that one Grizzly Cub player had tested positive for COVID-19, and that the number of players who would be unavailable due to contact tracing was going to make it impossible to field a full team against the visiting Hawks this week.
Then, on Friday morning, Greenwood announced that the decision had been made to cancel its game at Whiteland. Several Woodmen players are being quarantined due to potential exposure during last week’s game between Franklin and Greenwood.
Both Doty and Whiteland AD David Edens said that all online ticket purchases for those games will be refunded, as will any pay-per-view fees from anyone who had paid to access the online broadcasts.
Franklin’s freshman game, also against Decatur Central, will still be played as scheduled on Saturday.
Because the Grizzly Cubs do not play their Class 5A sectional opener at New Palestine until Oct. 30, the situation is not expected to derail the team’s ability to play in the postseason as of now.
Greenwood is scheduled to host South Dearborn in the first round of the Class 4A sectional next week. Woodmen coach Mike Campbell said that game should still be able to happen, based on the timing of the quarantine.
Decatur Central was part of a local virus-related switcheroo at the beginning of the season. The Hawks, who were scheduled to play Center Grove in the second week of the season, agreed to push that game up a week when the Trojans’ original season-opening opponent, Warren Central, was forced to postpone due to to some positive COVID-19 cases on its team. Center Grove wound up swapping games and playing the Warriors in Week 2.
Roncalli was previously the only area team to miss out on a game this season; its Week 1 game at Southport was scratched just a few hours before kickoff.
