PORTLAND, Maine — After high school football teams wrap up practice or scrimmages Friday, it will officially be less than one week until the first countable tackle football games are played in the state since 2019.
While coaches and players iron out the ‘Xs and Os,’ athletic directors like Rich Buzzell of Marshwood High School focus on a different playbook. That playbook, of course, being guidelines and recommendations on how to handle COVID-19 exposures.
“We’re all going to be hit with it, it’s going to happen,” Buzzell said. “We’re going to do our part to slow the spread and you know, we’re going to do what we’re told by the higher medical authority to keep all of our kids safe.”
Last week, Buzzell first had to use the new guidance after a student-athlete tested positive for COVID-19. He said when someone within the program tests positive, school personnel must trace back all close contacts; in this case, it was most of the 49-person team.
“And if a kid has not been vaccinated and if the kid was deemed a close contact, they have to quarantine for 10 days,” Buzzell said.
The vaccination numbers are going to be one of the closest monitored stat around the state this season. Buzzell added if student-athletes, coaches, or anyone within the program is fully vaccinated, they do not need to quarantine if they are deemed close contact with someone who tested positive and shows no symptoms.
About 25 kids at Marshwood are unvaccinated and end their 10-day quarantine period on Tuesday.
“We feel like it’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Buzzell said when asked how other athletic administrators are handling positive COVID-19 cases.
As of now, if a game is canceled due to an outbreak or a positive case that sidelines a majority of student-athletes, it essentially doesn’t count. No one is awarded a win; no one is awarded a loss.
The Maine Principal's Association is expected to release further guidance on the fall football season next week, an official told NEWS CENTER Maine Friday.
Buzzell has concerns with that current policy. He argued a team could ‘cherry-pick’ its schedule. In Marshwood’s case, the team could theoretically play Friday with the 25 or so remaining players, not in quarantine, but Buzzell said if they were scheduled to play a better team, they could cancel the game with no punishment.
“If it’s our issue and we had to cancel a game, I think that the team that cancels a game should be issued a forfeit loss,” he said. “Right now, there’s no incentive to play because right now there’s no penalty for not playing the game.”
While the health and safety concern is the priority for Buzzell at Marshwood and every athletic director in Maine, it’s not the only thing they’re worried about before that first kick-off next week.
Officials for those Friday night games are hard to come by, said Mike Drouin. Drouin is the assigner or supervisor for the Southwestern Maine Board of Officials.
“We don’t have 75 officials to put into a game, we have more like 50 or 53," he said. “A lot of these guys are former coaches like myself, players, or just guys who love the game of football.”
Because of that staffing shortage, some schools in the state might be asked to move a traditional Friday night game to Thursday or Saturday. Drouin said athletic directors had been great and understanding of the situation at hand.
In most years, officials need three years of football experience before they can officiate a varsity game. But this year is different, as Drouin said he is helping fast-track those with prior refereeing or officiating experience.
Another wrinkle to this fall season is something Cheverus High School players, parents, and fans will have to get used to. The Stags are one of 16 teams making the transition to eight-man football instead of the traditional 11 vs. 11 format.
“We’ve had two years to make the transition so we’re ready for sure,” head coach Mike Vance said. “It hasn’t felt much different for us in terms of how we prepare, what the playbook looks like.”
Since 2006, Vance has been manning the sidelines for Cheverus and next Saturday, his team will once again take the field when they host Yarmouth.
“It’s been really good for our kids, for our community. Having a football team on campus, there’s a certain energy to it,” he added. “It’ll be good getting back to business that way and doing what we love.”
Although Vance said the smaller field and three fewer players per each side of the ball aren't that much of a transition, he admitted he’ll have to learn some lessons from other coaches that have some eight-man experience.
Vance added that his players have been great in handling the COVID-19 guidelines thus far despite the learning curve.
“As a program, we’re trying to be leaders on campus and handle that maturely but it’s a challenge no question about it,” he said.
With all that to think about, student-athletes, coaches, and administrators have one thing on their mind: get me to gameday.