Covid-19 forces Seneca Valley to cancel football scrimmage, season opener

By: Chris Harlan
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 | 4:45 PM

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Concerned that an athlete had direct exposure to covid-19, Seneca Valley shut down football workouts indefinitely Tuesday, meaning it also must cancel its preseason scrimmage and season opener.

Teams must have 10 preseason practices before a scrimmage and 15 before a game, thresholds that the Raiders can’t reach, coach Ron Butschle said. The school is awaiting test results on the athlete, who attended practice Monday, he said. If the test is negative, the team can resume workouts immediately.

If not, the quarantine will continue.

Regardless, the team won’t scrimmage at Pine-Richland on Sept. 4 or visit North Allegheny on Sept. 11.

“I tell (the players) all the time that we have to press on with the things that we can control,” Butschle said. “We don’t have any control over this. Unless you have a bubble, which we don’t, these guys are going to be out with family and friends.”

WPIAL football teams on Monday started heat acclimatization, a five-day period mandated by the PIAA before teams can start full-contact practices.

Heat acclimation workouts count toward the required number of practices.

Seneca Valley is the second WPIAL football team this week unable to start its season. Mt. Lebanon shut down practice until Sept. 1.

Mt. Lebanon can scrimmage Sept. 11 or 12, if an opponent is available. It’s first game would be Sept. 18 against Canon-McMillan.

The WPIAL board decided Monday that games lost to covid-19 shutdowns will count as “no contest” rather than a forfeit.

“We don’t want to penalize a team for getting a forfeit when it may be no fault of their own,” WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Seneca Valley