Season’s hassles could be worse for prep athletes

Friday will be a momentous day.

It has nothing to do with the day of the week, or the date on the calendar.

But for the first time in two weeks — again — the Jay County High School boys basketball team gets to play.

More than two months after the season was supposed to begin, Jay County has played just six games. The Patriots have officially had more games postponed or canceled than it has played.

Jay County’s girls haven’t been immune to the affects of the coronavirus pandemic either. Their games against Northeastern, Delta and Richmond were first postponed and then canceled. Their game with Norwell — they upset the Class 3A No. 4 Knights 69-65 Monday — was pushed back six days. Tonight’s matchup with South Adams is a rescheduled meeting.

But Friday night is all about the boys, as they host the Bluffton Tigers (6-6, 2-0 Allen County Athletic Conference) for a conference tilt.

Jay County is the only ACAC team to have played single-digit games.

Southern Wells has played the most, 14. Heritage, with coach and JCHS graduate Adam Gray missing time because he tested positive for COVID-19, and Adams Central have played 13 games. Bluffton and Woodlan are both 12 games deep into their schedule.

Even the South Adams Starfires, who had eight of their varsity players compete in the Class A football state championship game, have played 11 contests.

Yet on Friday, Jay County will come off its second two-week quarantine and play just its seventh game of the season.

But, it could be worse.

On Friday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services held a press conference and announced updates to the state’s pandemic order beginning Feb. 1

Among those updates was a bombshell for prep athletes in the Great Lakes State: indoor contact sports will remain banned until at least Feb. 21.

While winter sports in Indiana and Ohio began on time, Michigander teenagers are still without their basketball, ice hockey, wrestling and competitive cheer seasons.

“We did not anticipate this delay in winter contact practices and competition, and today’s announcement has created many new questions,” Mark Uyl, executive director of the Michigan High School Athletic Association said Friday after Whitmer’s joint press conference. “Obviously, this is disappointing to thousands of athletes who have been training with their teams over the last week and watching teams in other states around Michigan play the last two months.”

Barring any more changes, less than a week after girls begin playing basketball in Michigan, the IHSAA will crown its girls basketball state champions.

The day before Michigan wrestlers take to the mat, 112 Hoosier wrestlers will have stood on a podium at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis with medals draped around their necks.

The same day Michigan boys are allowed to start playing basketball, Hoosier Hysteria will be in full force as boys in Indiana discover their postseason path.

The announcement in Michigan was the same weekend the MHSAA crowned eight football state champions, eight weeks after originally scheduled.

So while the Patriot boys were in the midst of yet another quarantine, Michigan was finally finishing its fall sports season.

In January.

The adaptations schools, athletes and fans have had to make during this 2020-21 sports season have been a headache. I do not envy coaches and athletic directors with all of these new rules and regulations in order to ensure there’s a season.

Although the Patriots have only played six games, at least they’ve been able to get some in. That’s reason enough to feel fortunate and thankful.

Because at least they have a season in the first place, unlike their neighbors to the north.

Remember, no matter what you’re going through athletically, academically, professionally or personally, it could always be worse.