'It hurts our heart': football players create their own competition as districts stop play

They became their own coaches, organizers and protocol overseers on a Friday night when they hungered for the sport that their schools are not allowing during the pandemic.

Players from Tolleson, Laveen Cesar Chavez and Avondale Westview met at Friendship Park in Avondale for football.

They organized a Big Man competition and a 7-on-7 passing competition. They wore masks. They did what the Arizona Interscholastic Association with their SMAC guidelines are recommending.

They could let loose for a couple of hours, even while their schools districts — Tolleson Union and Phoenix Union — have yet to give a green light to football because of health concerns over COVID-19.

"Definitely, it hurts our heart," Tolleson senior quarterback James McElhenny said. "Getting us away from the sport we love, it's not something you want to feel. I wouldn't wish this upon anyone."

The Tolleson and Phoenix districts aren't heading to in-person instruction, so that is leaving fall athletes on the outside looking in as most of the rest of the state prepare for an Oct. 2 season-opening kickoff.

PXU on Thursday halted a protest outside its office by starting talks to restart football, possibly by next week. But noting official has come out of the district.

Tolleson hasn't opened the door to a possible return to football with COVID-19 a concern in that area.

Schools in those districts can't open the fields and weight rooms for those players to conditions. Coaches can't be around them in person.

So the players are doing everything on their own to stay in shape, stay focused, and stay ready. Just in case there is a season for them.

Chavez football players, part of the PXU, were among those involved in the three-team competition in Avondale on Friday night.

"We've got to get that work in by ourselves," said Cesar Chavez junior defensive end Jacob Holmes, a major-college prospect at 6-foot-3, 285 pounds. "Phoenix Union at this point in time isn't on our side. We have to take it upon ourselves to get better as a team."

Nobody is as frustrated as Westview coach Nicholas Gehrts. He knows he has a special team. But he's proud to see the way the players have taken the proper precautions with masks while working on their own for a football season that nobody knows will happen.

Tolleson Union district schools haven't been allowed to even have Phase 1 workouts on campus since early June.

"We're going to keep having hope," said Westview senior quarterback Nico Vasko, who passed for nearly 2,000 yards and ran for more than 1,000 yards as a junior. "We're going to keep fighting. Hopefully, we'll get the opportunity we deserve. We're not going to give up yet."

Last month, a group of Tolleson Union district players, headed by Westview senior slot receiver Jonathan Chacon, demonstrated outside the Tolleson Union district office, holding signs to let them play.

That went nowhere.

Jonathan Hernanadez, a two-way lineman at Westview, was one of those players holding signs.

"We just want to play," Hernandez sad. "It's real frustrating watching everybody practice, and we're still out here doing this."

Westview senior linebacker Alejandro Barba, who had 70 tackles and three sacks last season, said the frustrating part is not being able to get into any of the playbook to know what they're going to do if they ever get under the lFriday night lights in the fall.

"I have hope that we'll play," Barba said. "But it's hard right now because they're not giving us any information about when we're going to start. It's just very difficult. I think if we just keep asking the administration. ... It's very hard. We just want to play a game."

Holmes doesn't feel it is fair that one district not far from where he lives can play football, and his district can't.

"As a community, we should all play," Holmes said. "It's not really fair. But we can't really do anything."

TUHSD governing board vice president Devin Del Palacio tweeted this week that football wont' return until it is safe for students to return to campus for classes.

It hasn't prevented districts that had not returned to campus for in-person learning to allow for football practices.

Many schools have been on campus most of the summer for organized team conditioning

Schools completed their first week of official practices in helmets.

Full pads go on next week. The season is less than three weeks from kicking off.

"To us, it seems like they don't care," McElhenny said. "We followed the rules. We did what everybody else did. And we don't get to play like everyone else."

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter @azc_obert.

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