Mason County is 1st school with winning record to back out of Kentucky football playoffs

The majority of Kentucky high school football teams that had withdrawn from this week’s first round of the playoffs had losing records and little chance of advancing, but that changed Monday.

Mason County High School announced it has canceled Friday’s home game against Pendleton County in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs. Pendleton County now advances to the second round.

In a press release, the Mason County athletics department announced it was made aware Monday of a positive COVID-19 case within its football program “that impacted many players and our coaching staff.”

“Following the recommendation from our local health department, the decision has been made to shut down all football activities for the remainder of this season,” the news release said. “All student-athletes and coaches impacted by this positive test are being contacted and are quarantined.”

Related: Coaches deal with uncertainty over football playoffs 

Mason County announced the school is pausing practices and games in all sports until Nov. 30. That includes basketball, which is scheduled to begin regular-season play next Monday. On Sunday, Fayette County Public Schools in Lexington also announced it was pausing practices and games until Nov. 30 but would allow its football teams to compete in the playoffs.

Mason County athletic director Brian Kirk was not immediately available for comment.

Mason County’s football team finished the season with a 4-3 record and was the No. 2 seed in Class 3A, District Six. The Royals already had defeated Pendleton County 47-14 on Sept. 25 and were hopeful of a rematch with top-seeded Fleming County in the second round of the playoffs. Fleming County beat Mason County 7-6 on Oct. 9.

According to the Kentucky High School Athletic Association, Mason County is among 16 schools — 8.4% of the 191 that qualified — to withdraw from the playoffs. It’s not known whether all 16 withdrew because of positive COVID-19 cases within their programs. The KHSAA has allowed schools to withdraw from the playoffs without penalty this year.  

The combined record of those 16 teams is 22-87. Mason County is the only one with a winning record and the only one that wasn’t a No. 3 or No. 4 seed in the playoffs.

The other schools that have withdrawn are Campbell County (2-6), Marshall County (3-6) and Southern (1-5) in Class 6A; Anderson County (0-9), Bourbon County (1-6) and Marion County (1-4) in Class 4A; Garrard County (2-2) in Class 3A; Ballard Memorial (0-7), Covington Holy Cross (2-6) and Washington County (2-4) in Class 2A; and Bellevue (0-8), Bracken County (1-4), Caverna (0-5), Fairview (2-6) and Fulton County (1-6) in Class A.

Southern was scheduled to play at Male, and Marshall County was scheduled to travel to Trinity. Both Male and Trinity now have first-round byes.

Southern athletic director Scott Ricks said Monday his team did not withdraw because of a positive COVID-19 case within the program. Instead, Ricks said there were safety concerns after Jefferson County Public Schools canceled games during the final two weeks of the regular season.

JCPS allowed teams to practice during those weeks, but they were not allowed to simulate game situations.

“When we missed out on those last two regular-season games … some of our kids stopped coming to practice,” said Ricks, whose Trojans lost to Male 64-0 on Oct. 8. “We didn’t want to take a chance on our kids getting hurt when they hadn’t been able to hit for two weeks. And Male has a shot to go to the state final. Why put Male’s season in jeopardy with one their kids possibly getting COVID from contact with someone on our team?”

The KHSAA has a regularly scheduled Board of Control meeting set for 9 a.m. Wednesday. Among the items on the agenda is “Football Playoff Status and Championship Weekend Logistics Review.”

The KHSAA announced a one-week delay in the start of the playoffs Nov. 8. In a news release, commissioner Julian Tackett said, “The review will be ongoing as it has been all along, and it is possible substantial changes could be made as needed in future days and weeks.”

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @kyhighs.