Local high school football coaches weigh in on COVID and plans for a hoped-for 2020 season

Jackson defender Markiese Jones goes for a tackle during a game against Battle High School last season at The Pit in Jackson.

Southeast Missourian file

Five head football coaches from Cape Girardeau and Perry counties believe their teams will snap the ball for the first time in a competitive game on August 28.

The Missouri State High School Athletic Association (MSHSAA) and the Missouri Football Coaches Association (MFCA) are in agreement that August 10 will be the first official practice for Show Me State teams.

All five team leaders take the challenges presented by COVID-19 seriously and approach the problem of keeping their charges safe similarly, with some differences.

Will Daffron, coach, Chaffee — Southeast Missourian file

Team Huddles

Will Daffron, Chaffee: Eliminating them will be hard and it’ll throw us some curveballs. Guys wear wristbands and if we must make a call on the line we will. Or we might have a signals system.

Kent Gibbs, Cape Girardeau Central: It’s always a concern, but most of the time offensively, we huddle. Our defense doesn’t huddle.

Blane Boss, Perryville: We don’t huddle up very often. We’re mainly no-huddle and send the play in while they’re on the line.

Tim Schumer, St. Vincent: We don’t huddle and haven’t the past two seasons. When the 40-second clock starts as soon as the last play ends, it’s a real advantage not to be in a huddle system.

Brent Eckley, Jackson: No huddles on either side of the ball. Our goal is 65-75 snaps on offense per game, which can’t happen if you huddle. One exception is our kickoff teams do huddle.

Kent Gibbs, coach, Cape Central — Southeast Missourian file

Locker room/weight room procedures

Chaffee: We’re disinfecting both rooms heavily. Clothes can’t be left in a locker or at the facility. We have temperature checks and a quarantine protocol.

Cape Central: We’ve taken our weight room equipment out on the field, into the open air. We spray everything down. Our jerseys are washed every night. Kids can’t come into the building without a mask on.

Perryville: Our locker room is closed at this time. All our kids will come dressed and ready to go. They can’t shower or change clothes at the school. In the weight room, we limit to 14 boys inside at a time. We’re using a special spray and a fogger.

St. Vincent: We haven’t been using the locker room yet. As for the weight room, we’re masking and social distancing, wiping down anything we use after a set. We’re limiting access to 10 or so right now.

Jackson: We’re using the locker room, but the boys are in and out pretty quickly. The vast majority, I’d say 75 percent, wait to shower at home. As for weight work, we’re using hand sanitizer between sets and rotations. We’re taking breaks a little more often.

Blane Boss, coach, Perryville — Southeast Missourian file

Film sessions

Chaffee: I break down the film myself and type out notes for each athlete with things to key on while they watch filmed practices online at home. I upload our practices to a software program called Huddle.

Cape Central: If we’re inside, you have to wear a mask and socially distance.

Perryville: We’ll stay six feet apart and spread out the chairs.

St. Vincent: I’m still deciding but we may go into the cafeteria and spread out so we can watch film together. We may watch film in position groups, which would allow gathering in somewhat smaller rooms.

Jackson: We’ll conform to social distancing and to the masking order. We want a season.

Tim Schumer, coach, St. Vincent — Southeast Missourian file

Water bottles

Chaffee: We are not providing them. Kids bring their own.

Cape Central: They must bring water from home. They know they will consume more during a game.

Perryville: Boys are bringing their own water; a jug is preferable. Can’t share, of course. Water fountains at school are turned off.

St. Vincent: I’m not a big fan of plastic water bottles. I prefer the boys to bring their own water in jugs.

Jackson: They must bring their own bottles or jugs.

Brent Eckley, coach, Jackson — Southeastt Missourian file

Contact drills

Chaffee: Well, we’ve tried to cut these down some, but football is a contact sport. We’re utilizing standup dummies, tackle wheels and one- or two-man sleds. Anything the boys touch gets wiped down, of course.

Cape Central: We’re going body-to-body but I’m not a big “full-pad-take-the-other-guy-to-the ground” kind of coach in the summer. We’ll take a lot of precautions.

Perryville: We haven’t done this yet. We need to use (tackling) dummies and clean them each time afterward.

St. Vincent: In the summer, we use dummies and wheels, but you must go one-on-one. Football means contact and if we’re going to play, contact is going to happen. We’ve tried to limit contact as much as possible and our staff will keep a watchful eye.

Jackson: We will limit contact as much as possible. Even in a non-COVID year, I’d say we don’t want to get hurt in practice. I like to emphasis tackling techniques on tackling wheels. I’ve never done a lot of contact to the ground in practice.

What if a positive test occurs with an athlete?

Chaffee: This is a better question for the athletic director. We had a kid who had a family member who tested positive. We made him sit out 14 days symptom-free.

Cape Central: We’ll follow the guidelines. If we have a kid with a positive test, we’ll shut him down for 14 days. We’ll also shut down anyone who has had contact with a person who tests positive for 14 days.

Perryville: 14 days of quarantine. Must test negative before returning.

St. Vincent: We haven’t discussed this fully yet. We’ll follow the guidelines and the advice of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, which has final say (for us) in these matters.

Jackson: Whatever MSHSAA suggests and expects, we’ll do. Probably whatever steps we take will be in deference to the Cape Girardeau County Board of Health.

Looking ahead

Jackson’s Brent Eckley, who guided his team to a last-second overtime loss in the Class 5 state championship final in December, said as he begins his ninth season at Cape Girardeau’s county seat school that he is “hopeful and cautiously optimistic” there will be a season.

“We’re all flying blind,” admitted Eckley. “A lot can change between now and August 28 but our boys have a glimmer of hope that we’ll be playing.”

The dean of local football coaches, the well-traveled Kent Gibbs at Cape Central, agreed.

“We have to accept (the virus) is here and we want to be smart so we can have a season,” said Gibbs, a MFCA Hall of Famer beginning his second season at Central and his 32nd as a head coach overall.

“(The virus) is a little bit of a burden (but) life is full of challenges,” observed Gibbs. “You gotta learn how to deal with them.”