Louisiana prep football ready, but New Orleans isn&#039;t

Louisiana prep football ready, but New Orleans isn't

September 10, 2020

By Ron Brocato
Clarion Herald

With most of Louisiana moving Friday into less-restrictive, Phase 3 rules for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, everything is in place to get the 2020 high school football season underway.

Everything except the mayor of New Orleans, that is.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said at a Thursday (Sept. 10) press conference that the coronavirus restrictions currently in place in the city of New Orleans will remain despite Gov. John Bel Edwards’ earlier announcement that he will move the state into the third phase of the recovery period on Sept. 11.

The Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s executive committee announced on Sept. 9 that the weekend of Oct. 1-3 will kick off the season, delayed by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the lead of Dr. Greg Stewart, chairman of the association’s Sports Medicine Committee, LHSAA executive director Eddie Bonine said schools may move forward with contact practices while the state is still in Phase 2 of the recovery period.

But Cantrell said she was not on board with either the LHSAA holding contact practices or playing football games in Orleans Parish. She reiterated Thursday that she will not change the current rules against holding contact practices within the city limits.

"The City of New Orleans is in Phase 2, and we will remain in place and will continue to let the data drive us,” Cantrell said. "But where the data has driven us today is to ensure that kids are returning to school next week."

While most of Louisiana has seen a significant drop in severe COVID-19 cases, some of the state’s more populated communities are still considered “hot spots” for the virus. The influx of thousands of evacuees from the Lake Charles area displaced by Hurricane Laura and the opening of local schools to in-class students makes the metro New Orleans area a locale of concern.

LHSAA president David Federico, principal of Ecole Classique School in Metairie, said the state association’s decisions cannot supersede Cantrell’s edict.

With or without the mayor’s blessing, high school football in Louisiana is scheduled for the first week of October. And Bonine has confirmed that “teams can start hitting (Friday). This is what the coaches and players have been working toward. And we are excited about it.”

The LHSAA moved the season up one week from its original starting weekend of Oct. 8-10 to facilitate an eight-game regular season and a 32-game playoff for non-select schools. The change will also allow for the state championship games to be played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Dec. 26-28.

Speaking on behalf of the select (private and Catholic) schools, executive committee member Ryan Gallagher, principal of Brother Martin, said select school principals voted to return to the Superdome for their championship games for this year. Select schools had chosen to hold separate playoffs from their non-select counterparts in 2019.

Lee Sanders, an assistant executive director whose position oversees all high school sports officials in Louisiana, has reset the 2020 football schedule, which begins in Week 3 of the regular season. This will assure that district games will not be eliminated.

He’s set aside Sept. 24-26 for interscholastic scrimmages. Then Weeks 1-8 will begin on Oct. 1-3 and end on the weekend of Nov. 19-21. The following four weeks of playoffs are scheduled for Nov. 27-Dec. 19.

“We recognize this timeline rapidly accelerates our preparation schedule,” Sanders said. “We also realize the difficulties of scheduling crews with a reduced number of officials. (But) please know that we will communicate with member schools regarding the likelihood that they will need to play games on non-traditional nights.”

The Greater New Orleans Football Officials Association (GNOFA) has about 95 members, but several have opted out of working the 2020 season, leaving the assignment secretary Ned “Skip” Chatelain adjusting the number of officials that may be available to cover games and scrimmages. The ideal crew consists of seven officials, but can be reduced to as few as five. He is adjusting the weekly schedule of assigned games.

[email protected]