CONVERSE – The start of the 2020 high school football season in South Texas is very much in jeopardy.
Austin Travis Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott issued an emergency order on Tuesday that does not allow any on-campus instruction or activities at any public or private schools in Travis County until Sept. 7. The order also prohibits all extracurricular activities -- including sports -- until students are allowed to return to campus. That order, if upheld, would cancel the first two weeks of the high school football season in Travis County and have rippling affects across the state.
San Antonio schools regularly compete against Austin-area schools early in the regular season. Of particular note, the Judson Rockets had been scheduled to play Lake Travis in the second week of the season on Sept. 4. If the emergency order stands, one of the biggest games in the state has been canceled.
“I was talking to coach [Hank] Carter last night when it came out, so it’s looking like that game probably won’t happen,” Judson head football coach Rodney Williams said Wednesday morning.
That’s not the only game the Rockets may have lost from their 2020 season schedule. Williams also revealed that Judson was already in talks to cancel their season-opener against DeSoto due to the surging COVID-19 pandemic.
NEW ROCKET: Former Brandeis QB Jordan Battles excited to work with new Judson teammates
“I talked to Claude Mathis up in DeSoto a couple of weeks ago,” Williams said. “We were already kind of planning on not being able to play from everything that is going on.”
All of this is occurring while school districts like Judson ISD have returned to summer strength and conditioning camps following a two-week shutdown due to concerns of the rise in coronavirus cases in Bexar County and the surrounding area.
“You come out here and watch the kids that are working out, seeing their body language, how positive it looks because they get a chance to do something they love, but we understand this is for the bigger cause,” Williams explained. “Just have to take it in stride.”