Coronavirus: Three South Dakota high school football games called off

At least three high school football games scheduled for Friday night have either been canceled or postponed due to coronavirus-related concerns, with Colman-Egan suspending its season until Sept. 12, Wolsey-Wessington calling off its trip to Bon Homme and Ipswich/Edmunds Central canceling its game at Deuel.

Friday's game in Deuel, which was to be the home opener and senior night for the Cardinals, was canceled after a member of the Ipswich football team tested positive for COVID-19, Tigers coach Brian Hogie confirmed Friday afternoon. "We have a positive case on our team this morning and are taking precautions to try to limit any spread," he wrote in a text message.

In addition to canceling Friday's football game, Ipswich Public School has also postponed all activities and practices until Tuesday morning.

Asked when the football team hopes to resume their season, Hogie said, "We do not have an answer for that right now."

A confirmed COVID case also led Wolsey-Wessington to postpone its game at Bon Homme, according to WW activities director Jennifer Boomsma-Kelsey.

While they are waiting on test results for "some other players" and working with the state health department on contact tracing, Boomsma-Kelsey said she is "really hopeful" that the spread will be minimal. "The whole team is not quarantined at this time," she noted.

The Warbirds learned of the confirmed case Wednesday afternoon, Boomsma-Kelsey said, leaving her and head coach Gordon Hooks with little time to make a decision on Friday's game. 

"I've learned that patience helps with situations," Boomsma-Kelsey said. "We don't have all of the results yet and I just was not comfortable with going to another town and potentially exposing another team." 

Bon Homme coach Byron Pudwill said they found out Thursday at 8 p.m. that their Week 2 game had been postponed due to "some kind of COVID issue" at Wolsey-Wessington.

"I don't think people quite realize the enormity of that," Pudwill said. "When we prep for a game, it's not like we hope and pray and guess what's going on... We have six days invested in this. Everyone's going to call (this week) our open week. Well, it isn't an open week other than not having a game."

They hope to reschedule the game. Oct. 16 (Week 8) would seem to make the most sense as both teams have an open date that week.

Assuming that date is ultimately agreed upon, the Cavaliers will close out the season with games at No. 3 (9A) Gregory, at No. 1 (9A) Canistota/Freeman and, instead of a bye week heading into the playoffs, a home game against No. 1 (9B) Wolsey-Wessington. "It's just a slight difference," Pudwill laughed.

Colman-Egan announced alterations to its schedule Thursday afternoon, postponing their game Friday against Castlewood to Sept. 18 and canceling their Sept. 11 game against De Smet. 

Hawks coach Chad Williamson confirmed that the scheduling changes are coronavirus-related, but did not specify whether it was the result of a positive case(s) on the team or confirmed close contacts.

The decision to quarantine the team for two weeks came from the state health department, Williamson said.

"They basically said we need to take the next two weeks off," he added. "That's what we were told to do... (The players) are going to take it seriously so we don't have any more issues."

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The team will be allowed to resume practices on Sept. 12, according to Williamson, who said they will handle the unexpected break like they did in the spring, giving the players workouts to do at home and hosting the occasional Zoom meeting.

"It's more they just need to stay in shape," he noted. "If they stay in shape and we come back Sept. 12, we'll be able to prepare for our game against Castlewood the following week."

Ranked No. 2 in the latest South Dakota Prep Media Football Poll, Colman-Egan is off to a 2-0 start with wins over Centerville and Gayville-Volin. Following their rescheduled game against Castlewood, the Hawks will close out September with a trip to Alcester-Hudson. 

Colman-Egan's situation comes about three weeks after Estelline/Hendricks was forced to delay the start of its football season due to two players testing positive for COVID-19.

"It's not a big deal for the coaches, it's more for the kids. They're the ones who have to deal with this," Williamson said. "It's tough on the athletes." 

Colman-Egan also announced Thursday that the volleyball team's match for Thursday night has been rescheduled for Sept. 14.

Menno, which announced Wednesday that it has a student who tested positive for COVID-19, has postponed all of its volleyball matches for the next two weeks, activities director Jacque Liebl confirmed Thursday. 

Liebl said they followed contact tracing protocols to identify confirmed close contacts and sent those students home to quarantine for 14 days. "Some" of those quarantined were members of the volleyball team, which led to the decision to postpone their upcoming matches against Freeman Academy/Marion (Thursday), Bridgewater-Emery (Sept. 8) and Ethan (Sept. 10).

Thursday's match against Freeman Academy/Marion is in the process of being rescheduled, according to Liebl, but the other two have been rescheduled. Menno will play Bridgewater-Emery on Sept. 21 and Ethan on Sept. 14. 

"The opposing schools were very understanding and accommodating to us," Liebl said.

Menno cross country and football were not impacted. 

Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.