Last March, the COVID-19 outbreak shut down schools, simultaneously leading to the abrupt cancellation of Spring sports seasons. This year, teams expect to play a full season.

COVID has caused the school to shut down before, and it especially e ected the accomplished ag football team. Last year the flag football team earned their sponsorship with Nike and were 4-0, winning all four games. They had won three state championships in a row and were expected to go for a fourth. Their last game was March 12 before the season was cancelled due to COVID-19.

“If the school shut down again and they allowed us to keep playing sports, then yes, we’d have things that we would be able to do,” head coach Joshua Saunders said. “But my guess is that if they shut the entire school down they’re definitely not letting sports happen,” He states. “But that would be pretty devastating since spring sports were the only sports last year that got eliminated. Every sport this year–fall went through it, winter went through it–so to shut down now would be unexpected and devastating.”

With the guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19 still in effect, Coach Saunders has been actively trying to maneuver around the changes while still following the guidelines and regulations so the team and everyone else involved stays safe.

“We tell them six feet, like we say it all the time,” Saunders explained. “One of the things we’ve been doing, is usually in practice we’re outside and the way Flag Football is it’s pretty spaced out anyway, but when you send people for water they all just go and group together. So one of the things we do now to ensure their safety in following guidelines is we have them put their bags 6-8 feet away from each other so everybody goes back to their bag and now they’re standing by their bag and that’s a good distance apart.”

There are a lot of new players this year that are entirely new to the sport or to the varsity team. The girls work together towards advancement by practicing, and they are looking forward to a successful season with their eyes set on a fourth State Championship title.

“My goal for this season is to win states,” Sydney Stout (‘21), the quarterback, said. “Our main strength as a team is our versatility and depth in our line up. We have a ton of talented players at most positions and that will help us a lot.”

Two of the biggest games the flag team is expected to play this season is the away game against Plant High School on March 31 and their senior night at home against Steinbrenner on April 12.