More games set for Friday canceled due to COVID-19

As most of the state begins conference play Friday, there were five games affected by the coronavirus pandemic Tuesday.

The five games were: Bentonville West at Fayetteville in the 7A-West, Little Rock Parkview at Greenwood in the 6A-West, Harrison at Farmington in the 5A-West, Texarkana at Magnolia in the 5A-South and Ozark at Dardanelle in the 4A-4.

All five games, which were conference games, will be considered no-contests in the league standings, meaning that there isn't a winner or a loser.

However, four of the teams affected, who are not currently quarantined or have had positive tests in their programs, have rescheduled for Friday.

Bentonville West will now travel to Greenwood, Greenwood athletic director Dustin Smith said Tuesday. Harrison will host Ozark, the Harrison Athletic Department announced.

With Tuesday's announcements, there have been 11 conference games this week that have been affected by COVID-19.

Since there is at least one team in Class 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A and 3A that will be forced to miss at least one game because of COVID-19, every team in those respective classifications will make the playoffs this season with an option to opt out by Oct. 26.

Meanwhile, the Little Rock School District announced in its daily COVID-19 report Tuesday afternoon that a student at Parkview has tested positive for the virus and 10 other students are quarantined.

The Arkansas Department of Health requires that a person quarantine for 14 days if he or she comes into contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 or has been exposed to the virus.

Smith said that it was unfortunate that Parkview and Greenwood couldn't have played each other Friday as it would have been one of the key matchups in the state featuring two 3-0 teams.

"I hate it for both schools," Smith said. "It would have been a heck of a game for high school football in the state."

John Daniels, the athletic director for the Little Rock School District, said Parkview will not have any football activities through Friday. He added that the LRSD will wait for their point-of-contact team to give them more information on when the Patriots can move forward. The Patriots' next scheduled game is Oct. 2 at Lake Hamilton.

But losing the Greenwood game is disappointing for the Patriots, Daniels said.

"That's a big game," Daniels said. "My hope is that at some point, they could meet in the playoffs. They could be two of the best teams in Class 6A. We're disappointed that they wont make the trip over there."

Fayetteville has several football players in quarantine and the Bulldogs will not practice the remainder of the week.

"We're doing this out of precaution for our kids," Fayetteville athletic director Steve Janski told the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "It's gut-wrenching for our kids, especially the seniors, but it's the right thing to do."

Fayetteville was off last week after losing 35-17 at North Little Rock on Sept. 11.

"You hate it for the kids," Fayetteville Coach Casey Dick told the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "But putting the healthy and safety of our players above everything else is a promise we made to their parents. We're going to push the pause button then reassess as we, hopefully, move forward toward next week."

Farmington Superintendent Jon Laffoon said in a news release Tuesday that three football players at the school have tested positive for COVID-19 and an addition 22 players are under quarantine.

Laffoon added that the status of the Cardinals' Oct. 2 game at Vilonia will be determined at a later date.

Magnolia has three positive cases at the high school, Superintendent John "Skipper" Ward said.

Ward did not say how many of those cases were football players, but that "multiple" players may have been exposed to the virus and that he decided to have the entire football team, which includes 67 players, quarantined out of abundance of caution.

"We want to try to get a handle on this," Ward said.

Magnolia is 3-1 after victories against Crossett, Little Rock Christian and El Dorado. Ward said that the status of the Panthers' Oct. 2 game at Hot Springs Lakeside is uncertain.

Dardanelle athletic director Lucas Skaggs said several football players are in quarantine. The Sand Lizards were to open 4A-4 Conference play against defending league champion Ozark on Friday.

Skaggs said that Dardanelle was able to hold a limited practice Tuesday afternoon with the players that aren't in quarantine, but that they didn't have enough to field a team Friday.

Texarkana coach Barry Norton said he was calling teams across Arkansas and Texas to see if the Razorbacks could have a game Friday in place of Magnolia, but couldn't find an opponent. The Razorbacks' next game is Oct. 2 against Camden Fairview at home.