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Tucson Salpointe Catholic is ready to open its football season Oct. 2 at home against Casa Grande. The next week, the Lancers play Sierra Vista Buena, then, on Oct. 16, they travel to Phoenix Pinnacle.
Outside of that, the school that rode Player of the Year Bijan Robinson into the Open Division playoffs last season doesn’t know who else it will be playing in 2020.
“It’s difficult not knowing which schools are allowing sports and which ones are not,” Salpointe Athletic Director Phil Gruensfelder said. “We are ready to compete, but are struggling finding schools to play.”
Welcome to Southern Arizona and the fate of the coronavirus with most districts only allowing for football games to be played when the Pima County Health Department says it’s OK to do so.
Most district superintendents in Southern Arizona are following the guidance of the local health department.
Most schools in the Tucson area have gone without any organized team activities on campus since mid-March.
But there is progress.
The Tucson and Amphitheater district schools began wearing helmets for the first time this week after transitioning into Phase 2 last week.
“Even though helmets are now permitted in our district, we are still remaining in Phase 2 with social distancing protocols still strictly enforced,” Tucson High School football coach Justin Argraves said. “We have yet to be given a start date for official practice so I am unsure of when game competition will occur.
“With our district progressing from Phase 1 to Phase 2 and now with helmets being integrated, it shows we are moving in the right direction. It looks as if most districts down here are taking different avenues when approaching the 2020 season so I can’t speak on their behalf. Everything is based off of Pima County Health recommendations so we are just playing the waiting game right now.”
Tucson is the only Southern Arizona school that plays football in 6A.
Oro Valley Canyon del Oro coach Dustin Peace, whose school is part of the Amphitheater district, said his school also is waiting on the health department to clear it to play games.
In 5A, 12 of the 32 schools that play football in the AIA are from Southern Arizona. In 4A, 11 of the 48 schools are in Southern Arizona.
Casa Grande is listed in the 4A Kino Region with Canyon del Oro, Tucson Pueblo, Tucson Sahuaro and Sahuarita Walden Grove. But Casa Grande has already filled a seven-game “independent” schedule that doesn’t included a game against a Kino Region opponent.
None of the other Kino teams have games scheduled on the AIA’s website.
“The question is, ‘When will we be allowed contact so we can start the acclimation period of contact?’ ” Peace said. “Some schools have schedules and we appear to be on the AIA timeline now, but we still need to be cleared by our county and districts for contact.”
Vail Cienega coach Pat Nugent, whose school plays in the Vail district, said that no public-schools superintendent has approved competition yet.
With helmets going on for the first time Monday for most of the Southern Arizona big schools, none of them would be ready for games until Oct. 16. That would be Week 3 of the season on the AIA’s timeline.
The Vail and Sierra Vista districts started with helmets earlier and would be able to start playing games on Oct. 9, Nugent said. Buena is in the Sierra Vista district. But Cienega has yet to schedule a game. And Buena, so far, has only two scheduled games: Salpointe on Oct. 9 and Casa Grande on Oct. 30.
“We have been working on finding games but need to be approved to play,” Nugent said. “I am hearing that TUSD will not start games until November and will most likely only play four or five games. So it doesn’t look like Tucson, other than Salpointe and Pusch Ridge, will be on the timeline with the AIA.”
On Monday, the AIA Executive Board approved the Phoenix Union High School District’s alternative fall sports timeline that is AIA-sponsored but run by the PXU with 10 schools playing football against each other, concluding with a city championship the week after the end of the regular season.
Could Tucson be going that route?
Like Argraves said, it’s a waiting game.
To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at [email protected] or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter @azc_obert.
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