COVID-19 is forcing two of Indiana’s top Week 1 high school football games to be canceled. The Hoosier State’s 2020 high school football season opens this coming weekend.
First, Center Grove’s game against Warren Central fell victim to the coronavirus pandemic and then on Sunday, two-time defending 5A state champ New Palestine announced that its game against Decatur Central won’t be played because of the “number of quarantined players.”
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Below is part of the statement released by New Palestine Head Coach Kyle Ralph:
“At this time due to the volume of quarantined players & their unavailability it has been decided the overall safety and well-being of our players, which is our top priority, does not meet the standards of fielding a team this week. We ask that all Dragon Nation stand unified behind this decision.”
New Palestine Head Coach Kyle Ralph via Twitter
#DragonNation please read the following statement from me in regards to our announcement. Thank you for your amazing and unwavering support. pic.twitter.com/H6f37rn0KW
— Kyle Ralph (@NPCoachRalph) August 16, 2020
New Palestine, which finished No. 103 in the High School Football America national rankings in 2019, is riding a 28-game win streak. In 2018, the Dragons beat Decatur for the state’s 5A title.
Center Grove, which would have started the year ranked in the High School Football America 100 before we delayed the release of the preseason national rankings, is looking for a Week 1 opponent after Warren Central announced its game against the Trojans was canceled due to the number of players in quarantine.
Monday, we’ll release our Preseason Indiana Top 10.
