“Green” is good, “Yellow” is OK, and “Gold” is close to bad, but if Ohio County is designated “red “ or “orange” on the West Virginia Department of Education’s county Covid map come 5 p.m. on November 28, the W.Va. Super Six high school football championships will be moved to an area deemed safer for athletic competition.
Bernie Dolan, executive director of the W.Va. Secondary Schools Activities Commission, added that if any of the football teams qualified for the finals are native to a county with “red” or “orange” designations will not be able to play in the finals.
“The map is the map and we have operated under the map season all season, so yes, there is a chance that these championship games will not be played in Wheeling this year,” Dolan said. “If Ohio County’s color is one of the top two levels after Thanksgiving, we won’t be permitted to play there. If the children can’t go to school in Ohio County, we’re not going to be able to play football in Ohio County.
“We have talked to people in a few locations, but we are hopeful that Ohio County’s numbers will improve,” he said. “If we can’t play, though, I would expect that we would extend the Wheeling committee’s contract by one year to make up for it. We just make it a mulligan year and move one the way we have to.”
Pandemic Impact
There may be five levels in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference, but the WVSSAC splits the state’s high schools into three divisions that are based on student population. The football championships have taken place at Wheeling Island Stadium since 1994, but this year already has proven the most challenging in the five years Dolan has been with the SSAC.
For example, last weekend 24 games were scheduled for the first round of the postseason, but 12 teams were map-eliminated, including John Marshall, Wheeling Central Catholic, and Wheeling Park High, so the state’s football postseason already has been muddied by the pandemic.
“We lost half our games during the first round, and that includes the two teams from Ohio County and John Marshall from Marshall County, so this has not been a normal year by far,” Dolan said. “Moving forward, there is a chance that the three games could take place in three different locations because of the map. There’s also the chance that games might not take place at all because of the map colors.
“Right now, we are just looking at options, but if it doesn’t take place in Wheeling, it’s not going to be the same as for the players, the coaches, or anyone else connected to the championships,” he said. “Even if it stays in Wheeling, we’re not going to be able to do any of the events that have large crowds, and attendance at those games will be limited, too.”
