Despite the number of games that have been canceled during the regular season and in the playoffs, there will not be an asterisk in the record books next to the 2020 high school football season.
Bernie Dolan, executive director of the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission, explained that natural disasters have led to team eliminations and shortened seasons before in the Mountain State.
“I don’t think this will be labeled an asterisk year for football,” Dolan said. “Now, do I think the best teams are competing right now? No. Do I think Wheeling Central and Wheeling Park are two of the better teams on their levels and that they could be playing in this tournament? Without a doubt. I think those two schools had the types of teams that would have competed very well.
“But I don’t believe there should be an asterisk on this football season because it’s the not the first time we have lost games,” he said. “We’ve had floods and other catastrophes that have eliminated teams and have shortened seasons in the past, so this year is another one of those years. But I do think because teams like Wheeling Central and Wheeling Park being eliminated without playing is something that will stick in a lot of people’s minds.”
Orange or Red
Three local football teams qualified for the post season, and No. 16 John Marshall was scheduled to play No. 1 Cabell Midland, No. 7 Wheeling Park was matched up against No. 10 Princeton Senior in the first round, and No. 13 Wheeling Central was set to defend the Class A state title against No. 4 St. Marys.
All three games, however, were scratched as were nine others in the opening round because of the state Department of Education’s COVID-19 map. Four more games were canceled during this past weekend’s quarterfinal round.
“In athletics, no one wants to move on without playing, and nobody wants to be eliminated without playing,” Dolan said. “It’s just a shame because those are the rules that we are playing under. It’s also been tough because so many people haven’t even been able to see the games. If you’re not a family member or if there weren’t any live streams on the Internet, the fans probably didn’t get to see any of the games this year.
“Athletics in a community is huge because it’s what everyone rallies around, but we haven’t had much of that at all,” he said. “I can say the fall was much better than the spring because everything was canceled in the spring.”
A Long Recovery
Dolan, a former teacher, principal, athletics director, and football coach before becoming the SSAC’s executive director, is hopeful for more normalcy in 2021 in high school athletics, and he is encouraged that state officials are examining the current system utilized for determining when competition can take place.
“It has clearly been a very difficult fall season because there are so many things that are out of your control,” Dolan said. “It been difficult for everyone in the schools, the players, the parents, the coaches, and everyone involved. So many people have been trying to do right and they have gotten the raw end of the deal.
“The colors on the maps are not determined by the people involved with these teams but instead by everyone in the county, and that’s why I’m hoping that state officials can find a better method that can be more fair,” he said. “The Harvard map may work for New York City, but it doesn’t work for rural West Virginia. So, hopefully those people can find a system not so much that we can play sports, but so these kids can get back to their schools.”
In-person instruction, Dolan believes, is the best method to education on any level, and the former educator fears the fact that so many of the state’s school children have been limited to remote learning that it will take an extended amount of time for them to catch up academically.
“I believe the recovery from this is going to take years as far as academics are concerned because of what we have lost during this pandemic,” he said. “We know that there is that slide during the summer, and now if you combine that with what we have lost over the past nine months, it’s going to have a big impact.
“I feel sorry for the kids, and for the youngest of the children, it’s been really difficult,” Dolan added. “Those are students who are trying to learn how to read and write and do basic math, and those things are really a hard thing to learn when you can’t be with your teacher.”
