Delay of game: high school sports on indefinite hold

Rick Zepeda, Head Football Coach at St. Paul High School, looks out over the empty field after the CIF put Fall Sports “On Hold.” (Photo by Keith Durflinger)

SANTA FE SPRINGS – A “delay of game” penalty flag has been thrown again at high school sports for the fall season to start up.

The California Interscholastic Association (CIF) announced last week that as of Dec. 1, “…all practices and competition start dates are on hold until updated guidance is issued.”

The guidance is from the California Department of Public Health regarding the latest spikes in the pandemic.

Most of the fall sports have been conditioning on and off, depending on their specific school district guidelines.

The first official day of football practice would have been this coming Monday, Dec. 14, and the first games would have been Jan. 8-9, 2021. Boys volleyball would have held the first official high school contest Saturday, Dec. 12.

But all is on hold until further notice.

On Monday, the second largest school district in the country, Los Angeles Unified School District, announced it would “indefinitely suspended all on-campus athletic conditioning.”

The Whittier Union High School District, which Santa Fe and El Rancho are part of, had halted all conditioning a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile, St. Paul High School in Santa Fe Springs has been holding “optional (conditioning) for any of the athletes,” Athletic Director Mary Anderson said.

However, that was before the alert on Tuesday.

Dave Pierson, Head Football Coach at Santa Fe High School, stands in front of their football field as the CIF put Fall Sports "On Hold." (Photo by Keith Durflinger)

Conditioning has been cancelled until further notice because of the continuing spikes in L.A. County covid cases.

“I am very sad for our kids, but as the athletic director, I am responsible for the safety and health of our students and coaches and cooperate with all guidelines, but understand how hard this is on the well-being of everyone,” Anderson said.

“Some students are struggling with the lack of social interaction and we are offering the opportunity for some teams to work out. Coaches are volunteering their time to be with their athletes. The school has COVID-19 protocol in place by which all coaches and athletes must abide.”

A subject that is getting attention lately is the forming of club football teams.

Anderson has some thoughts about that very subject that is building steam if high school sports are cancelled after the first of the year.

“A concern I have is club teams being allowed to work out and compete, even out of state,” Anderson added. “It can be hard on school athletic teams bound by state, county, CIF, and archdiocesan guidelines, but these other groups seem to be bound by different rules.

“I am especially concerned with groups who offer online education, which is so different from the current distance learning. Traditional high schools offer strong college prep and AP classes, interaction with an engaged teacher, activities, academic & college advising, and clearinghouse assistance to just name a few. I am skeptical about what the academies offer.”

Her final concern is the safety of the student athletes at these academies.

“I wonder if they require athletic physicals, have first aid/CPR certified coaches or athletic trainers, and, almost most importantly, comprehensive insurance in place,” she said.

“There have been more very serious injuries suffered by athletes throughout the years and I am concerned that parents may be required to sign a waiver and then pray that all works out. The cost of medical attention in the case of serious injuries can be overwhelming.

“If CIF cancels athletics and competition is open elsewhere, we are open to exploring opening the campus up to our athletic facilities to clubs/teams to rent and hopefully keep our kids involved, engaged and still Swordsmen.

“In the meantime, we cooperate as required, do what we can, and pray that we can survive this historic time in our lives.”

Dave Pierson, head football coach at Santa Fe High School, looks at unissued football equipment as the CIF put fall sports "on hold." (Photo by Keith Durflinger)

Another concern is the seniors that will be playing a varsity sports for the first time.

In the case for football, the athlete won’t get that Friday night feeling. One such case is senior outside linebacker Christian Rocha.

“He’s a senior who didn’t get to play varsity football last year,” Santa Fe coach Dave Pierson said. “He was looking forward to this year of being able to suit up under the lights, only to have the season in question. The kid will never get that back and was looking forward to earning his varsity letter.”

CIF-SS statement

“December 1, the CIF State Office announced that all CIF State and/or CIF Regional Championships for Fall Sports have been cancelled,” said Rob Wigod, Southern Section Commissioner of Athletics.

“If regular seasons are shortened, it would be at the front end of the season, keeping the back end of the season unchanged. It is our intention for post-season play to be a destination for schools (that) are able to play this fall.

“On Tuesday, January 19, 2021, when we have a better sense of the overall situation at that time, I will update you on the status of Southern Section Championships for fall sports.

“Where we are today is not as important as where we are on December 15, 2020, January 4 or January 19, 2021.”

Rick Zepeda, head football coach at St. Paul High School, sits in an empty coach's room. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)

A conversation with 8th-year St. Paul football coach, Rick Zepeda and 9th-year Santa Fe football coach, Dave Pierson.

How do you feel about the recent CIF decision?

Rick Zepeda: “I think the recent decision by the CIF is smart. I think that we have to keep in mind that the safety of everybody is still the most important decision to make and they’ve done a good job. If we can all be patient and follow what we’re supposed to do, I’m hoping that we will be able to play in February sometime.”

How do you think this will affect your seniors?

Zepeda: “It’s affected (the seniors) already. You anticipate your senior year of fulfilling a lot of goals that you have personally. If you’re not able to show the work that you’ve put in to yourself, it gets frustrating. I want them to keep the faith and to make sure that everyone still believes that we can get some games in January or early February, so, not to give up and keep working towards your goals?”

For the seniors, what do you think they should do to step up to the next level?

Zepeda: “If it (football) does not happen, there’s a lot of options for them that will be out there as far as camps and combines. We’re trying to establish ourselves to make sure that they make the best decision and we have opportunities for them to play sometime this year.”

Do you think there will be something like baseball and softball, where they are travel teams and go to other states that are more open?

Zepeda: “I think clubs will start. I just don’t know when. If we don’t get anything going here, then I’m sure that most of them will want to participate in an off-campus club.”

Personally, as a coach, how has these decisions affected you?

Zepeda: “It’s been pretty exhausting; mentally, to see your boys lose time in something you love and even being at school with the camaraderie of being a St. Paul student. It’s frustrating for the teachers, the admin and the coaches not seeing them create those last year relationships. It’s been peaks and valleys and as of right now it’s been more valleys. It kind of feels like having a terrible season and the season never stops. It just keeps going on and on and on. I know this team is talented and I want to put them on the field. I’m hoping that that still happens, but ya, it’s been exhausting. You have to make decisions for a large group, knowing that the group has different opinions, it’s difficult at times.”

What have you been doing, practice-wise, conditioning wise and what does this latest stay-at-home order do against that?

Zepeda: “We were planning on continuing to get them out of the house and doing some conditioning, just two days a week. Our practices are optional, still adhering to all of the COVID restrictions that are in the guide. That was our plan still. As of yesterday (Tuesday), when the alert came out, I think it really kind of reaffirmed to everybody that we still need to be extra safe. We cancelled for now, but I’m hoping to re-establish them as soon as we can. The hard part is I do not know. It’s a day-to-day, hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute situation. At any time things can open up, so I have to be able to just stay patient and wait for the indication that we can get back out here safely.”

How does this affect California players with their scholarships and their options to go elsewhere?

Zepeda: “If a player had a great junior year, you’re in a good position right now, the California player, because you have film and they’ve seen what you can do and those players are getting scholarship offers. If you are that player that is planning on having a great senior year, you had a great off-season and you did all of the things that you wanted to do and you’re finally going to start and get some playing time, that’s where the tragedy part comes in. So, how do they get recognized? How do they get themselves out there? It’s mostly practice film and anything else you can grab to share with them and you have to be ultra aggressive, marketing-wise for yourself, so that you create opportunities for yourself. A lot of the kids, the seniors that have great GPA’s, it’s highly effective that if your GPA is good and you started last year and have some stats.

“For the kids that are in between, it’s frustrating for them.”

Dave Pierson looks at unissued football equipment as the CIF put fall sports "on hold." (Photo by Keith Durflinger)

Dave Pierson

What did CIF put down December 1?

Pierson: “Basically, they are just prolonging the decision on whether or not to green light a football season. Obviously, fall football is kind of in a holding pattern. I care about football, obviously my kids care about football, our parents care. But it looks like they’ve extended it into the middle of January before a decision will be made as to whether or not there will be a football season.”

Has the district suspended practice?

Pierson: “We actually stopped any type of exercise prior to Thanksgiving and we were going to be on a two-week hiatus, and then that got extended until after the New Year, based on just the spike in COVID infections that are occurring here in Southern California. They just felt like it was the best thing to do at the time. Just shut it all down and to hold fast and wait until after the new year. Obviously, we’re somewhat anxious to get a football season in, but realize the complex situation that we’re in as a country.”

What is it like for the seniors that are going to college and how they get film to go if they don’t have film, then they don’t get recruited. If they can’t get recruited against other states where they are playing, how is that going to affect them?

Pierson: “That’s a tough one to answer. I know that there’s a lot of different groups now that are starting to emerge because of what’s happening here in Southern California, with these, I’d call them “traveling football squads”, which they are leaving the state of California to play actual full 11-on-11 tackle football. I’m hearing rumors of kids of wanting to do that just as an opportunity to get some type of film, playing four or five games. That logistically, I don’t know the ins and outs of that. But, I could anticipate our kids kind of working towards that, any of our seniors trying to participate in some of that, but that’s going to be up to those kids individually in what they choose to do in their senior year if it unfolds that way.

Would your seniors be X’d out of recruiting from other schools outside of the state because you have other states that are playing full-on football and they’re not?

Pierson: “From a recruiting standpoint, it really sets back our kids here at Santa Fe. Any kid that had an opportunity to maybe get some kind of exposure to Division II, Division III or whatnot or whatever’s out there for our kids, there’s a huge hindrance of not having film. We’d have to refer back to last year in the film that we have on them to forward on to those coaches and then they could make the best assumption as to what they want to do with it.”

What they said:

Rich Avina, St. Paul Boys Volleyball coach: “As much as I would love to believe that we could practice and play and there is no risk. That is just not reality. These young athletes can overcome the virus, but it’s who they take it home to - parents, grandparents and people who may have difficulty overcoming what COVID brings. CIF is in an impossible position. I believe they are doing their best to give hope of a season by pushing dates back.

“Ultimately, the big picture is we need to get a handle on COVID spreading and get back into the classroom, then back on the court or field of play. If we come back too early, it just prolongs the issues at hand.

“I would rather CIF push dates back in hope of playing then just ending all hope by shutting us down indefinitely.”

Daniel Pallan, senior, St. Paul football (cornerback, linebacker, safety): “For being a senior, it’s kind of heart-breaking. (On the push back of the schedule) it’s sad, but it’s life. You can’t look down. You have to be positive about everything.

“I know I haven’t played my last game of football. [Daniel has offers from the University of San Diego, Valparaiso University in Indiana and Upper Iowa University.]

“If we have a season, we have a season. Do not take life for granted.”

Christian Rocha, senior, Santa Fe football (outside linebacker): “I’ve played since I was in third grade. It (varsity) would have been a great experience.

“(Friday night lights) is a feeling kind of thing. You get to put everything out on the line for the coaches. Going out of the tunnel on to the field and hearing the band play. It’s a great feeling. Ever since I started, I dreamed of that.

“I’m not sure we’re going to have a season. It sucks because it’s my last year.”

Keith Durflinger contributed to this story.