Thousands of Connecticut high school teens who've already had their 2020 upended by the COVID-19 pandemic absorbed another disappointment Friday, when a Hail Mary attempt to save their high school football season fell short.
The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) decided it shouldn't give the go-ahead for a season without the approval of state health officials, who call the sport too risky for teenagers during the ongoing pandemic.
CIAC Commissioner Glenn Lungarini said the decision was made reluctantly, citing the need to follow the guidance of the Department of Public Health (DPH).
"The CIAC still believes that the metrics in Connecticut support high-risk, full-contact football being played," says Lungarini. "We're not lookng to play full-contact football next week, but we were hoping to be able to jointly find alignment that we would make that decision later in the fall...We were not successful in moving DPH to align with our thinking."
The DPH has repeatedly said football, with its facemask-to-facemask blocking and tackling, represents a high-risk of transmission. There is no cure and no vaccine for the novel coronavirus.
Many students were willing to take that risk, according to Kevin Frederick, head coach at Maloney High School in Meriden. He says coaches and players were confident that continued low viral transmission counts in Connecticut would allow for a season that the CIAC had already shortened to six regular season games:
"We (Connecticut) have the lowest numbers in the United States... There are 35 states that are still playing. And some of their numbers aren't as good as ours. So, I think as rational human beings you think that, yup, we're going to end up playing."