Update: In an email to State High football families, SCASD Athletic Direction Chris Weakland reported that the pending COVID-19 test had returned negative.
‘We apologize for the last-minute postponement of the game today but I have some good news, the COVID-19 test result came back negative. At this time, we are working to reschedule the game as soon as possible and will contact you when we finalize this plan. While today was an unfortunate situation, we must operate out of an abundance of caution when it comes to the health and safety of our community.’
According to State High coach Matt Lintal, the two teams will play at Carlisle on Monday night.
Original Story:
State High football’s Friday night game at Carlisle has been postponed due to a COVID-19 concern according to Little Lions’ coach Matt Lintal.
Lintal first posted the message to the State College High School Football Facebook page on Friday afternoon. Lintal later confirmed to StateCollege.com that the statement originated from State College and not Carlisle.
‘We have a presumed positive case of COVID-19 with a person who has been in close contact with the team,’ the statement reads. ‘This person has been tested and is in quarantine but we will not have test results in time to play today. Therefore, in consolation with the health and safety team, we have decided to postpone our game tonight. While disappointing, our hope is to play the game in the next couple of days. I will keep you posted as we have further developments.’
State High was set to play its third game of the year this evening after winning last Friday during its only home game of the season. The Little Lions’ season was already delayed due to the Mid Penn Conference’s decision to postpone the start of the season, as well as State College Area School District’s move to remote learning for three weeks in September.
SCASD athletics will only participate in competition while school continues to operate in-person learning according to district guidelines. The district has continued in-person learning since Sept. 28.
According to the school district’s COVID-19 dashboard, two new positives among district students were confirmed on Friday. A total of six students and five employees have tested positive since the start of the school year.
The State College girls varsity volleyball team is currently in the midst of a 14-day quarantine after a person in the program tested positive for COVID-19 last weekend. No practices or games will take place for the team until Oct. 24. In an email earlier this week, Superintendent Bob O’Donnell declined to say whether the person was a student or an adult, but said contact tracing conducted by school nurses found no close contacts occurred between team members and the person who tested positive.
‘However, at the recommendation of our health and safety team, we are going to quarantine the entire volleyball team and coaches through Saturday, Oct. 24,’ O’Donnell wrote in a message to players’ families. ‘We’re taking this approach out of caution because there were three team events within two days of the positive test: two practices and one game. All the instances took place indoors, which was the deciding factor behind the safety team’s recommendation.’
Centre County added 36 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
