COVID-19 affects high school football again as six Fort Worth-area openers are canceled
With the start of the 2021 Texas high school football season just days away, COVID-19 is once again getting in the way of several Dallas-Fort Worth area teams.
As of Thursday, 25 season openers across the state have been canceled, according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football insider Matt Stepp. The regular season kicks off Thursday through Saturday.
“We’ve said it since the COVID cases started rising, there will be games canceled this year. I don’t think we’ll deal with [it] as much as last year, but we will be dealing with it all year,” Stepp said on Twitter on Monday.
Eleven games involving a DFW school have been canceled, six within the Fort Worth-area.
Eagle Mountain Saginaw ISD announced on Tuesday that Friday’s game between Boswell and Haslet Eaton has been canceled due to COVID-19 within the Boswell program. The game was set for 7 p.m. at Northwest ISD Stadium.
According to EMSISD, the non-district game will not be rescheduled.
Eaton will now play Arlington Seguin at 7 p.m. on Friday at NISD Stadium. Seguin had to cancel its Week 1 game with Dallas Carter, which was set for Kincaide Stadium in Dallas.
Willow Park Trinity Christian, a TAPPS school in Parker county, canceled its Week 1 game with Peaster because of COVID-19. Peaster has since found a replacement game hosting Munday at 7:30 pm. on Friday.
Venus, a school south of Mansfield, will not be playing a game this week, according to Stepp after the program went 0-2 on scheduled games. Dallas Pinkston was originally set to open with Venus, but it canceled on Monday. Just an hour later, Venus found a new team to play in North Dallas, but that game was canceled on Tuesday.
Fort Worth Temple Christian and Dallas Covenant have canceled their game on Friday.
Godley and Fort Worth South Hills canceled their game on Thursday.
Other DFW teams hit with the virus include Garland Naaman Forest, Plano John Paul II and Carrollton Ranchview.
More than 200 games in DFW were canceled or postponed last season.
The pandemic forced the UIL to split divisions with Class 5A and 6A starting a month later.
State championship games in the two largest classifications weren’t played until January 15, making them the latest any football title games were played in the past 100 years.
At least six games in the state were canceled in the first round of the playoffs last season, including two in the area from Fort Worth North Side and Arlington Seguin, ending their seasons.
This story was originally published August 24, 2021 at 3:59 PM.
