Last year, COVID-19 came full force and disrupted everything in its path. The US football season was not immune to this disruption. When the country went under lockdown in March of 2020 nobody thought the possibility of a football season nationwide would be slim to none. Then, the NFL Draft took place virtually brought to you by Microsoft Teams for the first time in 84 years, setting the tone for the rest of the season. The impact of COVID on the NCAA and NFL was easily seen by the large amount of coverage received, but what about high school football? Some teams, including Gilman School in Baltimore, Maryland, were not able to finish their season. Other schools, like Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C., were able to complete their season. These two schools went through very different experiences.

The logistics of a season begin in the coaches’ huddle. They are the first ones to know about anything concerning their teams. This year, Coach Nicholas Bach, head coach for Gilmans’ football team, and Coach George Mitchell, defensive line coach for Gonzaga, were key figures in their respective seasons. When asked what he wanted to see more of in this 2020-21 football season, Coach Bach said, “I thought we had a really good team coming back. We had great senior leaders last year, and we really started to develop a real good culture of team and teamwork.” Coach Mitchell was asked the same question and said, “I was just happy to play at all, to be honest with you. I didn’t think we would have a season, but we still prepared like we were going to have a season.” Each team continued to practice though their seasons were uncertain. For Gonzaga, they used Zoom to meet four days a week and continued their weight lifting sessions while D.C. was still in lockdown. When they were finally able to practice together again, they practiced in Bowie Maryland three days a week and then once a week at a facility in Glendale, Maryland. For Gilman, they used Flipgrid to submit workout videos and Zoom for team meetings. When given in-person options again, they could only practice outdoors and did not have access to their weight room. 

While players relentlessly practiced, coaches, athletic directors, and conference heads were working to figure out what a season would consist of. For Gonzaga, the decision was made pretty early--a spring season with five games would be held. According to Coach Mitchell, “We had the season set so you could play another sport.” For Gonzaga, football ended just in time for lacrosse season to start. Unlike Gonzaga, Gilman proceeded with a fall season that consisted  of three games. For Coach Bach, the possible injuries for seniors who would be playing college ball in the fall was a concern when considering a Spring season. Gilman also made the decision to combine the JV and Varsity season together. Though a three-game season was put in place for Gilman, plans changed as the pandemic worsened. After coming back from their week two win against Concordia Prep, news traveled that JV Concordia players contracted the virus. As a result, many JV Gilman players had to quarantine. With only 48 hours to decide if playing Loyola for a closing game was still in the team's best interest, a decision against the game for the sake of the players’ safety was made. When asked about his hope for next season, Coach Bach said, “We are getting to the point where we are really ready to compete. We don’t have any fear of that competition anymore. I think we are genuinely excited about it, which is fun to be around.” Contrary to Gilman, Gonzaga finished their five-game season undefeated with a win against St. Johns. When asked what he is hopeful for next season, Coach Mitchell said, “I’m always hopeful just to have our players healthy number one. Have our players do well in the classroom. Place our players in some good colleges always, and always compete for the championship.”

The impact of COVID on high school football looked a little different from the players’ perspective. When Kadari Machen, a junior at Gonzaga, was asked if he thought COVID would ever impact his season, he said, “I definitely didn’t expect it to blow up like this. I was more expecting us to take like a week or two off and be back by summertime.” Unlike Kadari, Mattheus Carroll, a senior at Gilman, thought of the opposite: “When it [the pandemic] first hit, I actually didn’t think we would have a season at all. College sports were up in the air at that point in time. If college sports were up in the air, I don’t really see it [happening] on a high school level.” Though both players had different impressions of COVID, their approach to training was still the same. You could see Machen training with field workouts three days a week, lifting 3-4 days a week, and speed training two days a week. The same went for Carroll, who trained at least six times a week. Both players used platforms like Zoom to communicate with their teams. Both players were ecstatic when they learned about a possible season. Along with other teammates, they were given the option of opting in or out for this season. Not taking his season for granted, Machen said this after learning about a potential spring season: “I got to make plays, I got to do this, I got to make the most of every single game, every single minute, every single play.” Living up to that, Machen and the rest of the team finished out their five-game season undefeated. When asked about his thoughts on ending the season like this, he said, “I’m glad to give those seniors a win for the last game of the season.” Throughout their season, you can see the Eagles displaying Gusto, a unique team word used to describe having high energy and swagger. Gusto was especially needed due to the lack of fans, and the inability to play on their home field. Next year, Machen hopes to “play to his potential” by becoming a better leader and being more dominant on the field. He declares that his team is “not to be messed with”. For Carrol, his hopes for finishing out his three-game season were left unfulfilled. The week after playing Concordia Prep, he knew something was up when Gilman’s athletic director started to grab the attention of other coaches with her talk of a potential COVID exposure. “We started to kind of lose coaches blowing the whistle to stop plays.That’s when I started to speculate a little bit”, Carroll said in regards to what happened during the practice that foreshadowed their season's fate. About 20 JV players were exposed to COVID after playing Concordia, leaving only a fourth of the team left after trying to contain the outbreak.. Though the season came to an unfortunate end, Carroll was happy to be able to play with his team one last time before heading off to Virginia Tech to play at the collegiate level. Carroll would like to improve his all-around game and doesn’t just want to be seen as a pass rush defensive end. Carroll has already begun training and can’t wait to apply what he has been working on to the college level. 

Though both schools could be seen having two different types of seasons, both players and coaches were grateful for a season. Both schools are expecting to play a full season next year with challenging teams on each game schedule. As far as players go, players like Machen and Carroll have already started training daily with little off days. This season was definitely a learning lesson for all, and watching the Hounds and Eagles in action next season should be on everyone's radar. 

Photo Courtesy of the gonzaga.org