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| WAKE COUNTY CUP LIVE TONIGHT ON HSOT |
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Soccer fans will want to tune into HighSchoolOT tonight as well. We have a huge boys soccer matchup live at 6 p.m. as (4) Leesville Road takes on (2) Apex Friendship at Cardinal Gibbons High School in the Wake County Cup championship match.
J. Mike Blake will have play-by-play from the game. You can watch it live on HighSchoolOT.com and the free HighSchoolOT app. We'll have full coverage after the game as well. |
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| LATEST RANKINGS GOING INTO TONIGHT'S GAMES |
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There were some changes in the top five of the East and West rankings for high school football this week.
In the East, Cleveland, Cardinal Gibbons, and Richmond remain the top three teams, but Wake Forest dropped from No. 4 to No. 7 after a lopsided loss to Cardinal Gibbons last week. That opened the door for New Bern and South View to move up a spot to No. 4 and No. 5 respectively.
In the West, the top three teams also remained the same: Chambers, Hough, and Grimsley. Charlotte Catholic dropped from No. 4 to No. 6 though, which allowed East Forsyth to move up one spot to No. 4 and Ardrey Kell to make a big jump from No. 11 to No. 5.
You can see the full top 25 rankings here. |
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| FOOTBALL WILL GO ON IN ORANGE COUNTY |
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The week started with a bang on Monday when word came out that the Orange County Board of Education would consider a recommendation to suspend football (and other high-risk sports) for two weeks and require the athletes to show proof of vaccination upon their return.
It didn't pass though. After a (very) long board meeting on Monday night, the board tabled the idea of suspending football season. They did put in new protocols though -- like masking requirements, limitations on fans, the banning the sale of food & drink. Many of these moves mirror earlier protocols from last school year before vaccines were available. They're among the strictest protocols of any district in the state at this point. |
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| ABOUT THESE COVID-19 METRICS FOR SPORTS... |
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In last week's newsletter, I wrote about the data released by DHHS regarding high school sports and clusters of COVID-19 within athletics. As I said last week, the data was missing some very important context.
This week, I published a column on this topic. Here's the truth: No one knows what transmission is like within high school sports in North Carolina because no one -- not the NCHSAA, not DHHS, not the ABC Science Collaborative -- has been tracking that data since sports resumed in June 2020.
Why are we seeing this focus on sports then? It's not because there is overwhelming data that sports are contributing to the majority of spread in schools -- in fact, the data that is available would suggest otherwise. I think it's an effort to promote vaccination of kids who are eligible to receive the vaccine. It's a noble cause -- as I said in my column, I am an advocate of the vaccines and received mine as soon as I became eligible -- but this strategy is not an effective one.
So, about vaccines and high school sports... |
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| THE COVID-19 VACCINE AND HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS |
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Why haven't we seen sports shutdowns this fall despite the pandemic hitting schools harder now than at any other point? My theory is simple: There are safe and effective vaccines out there, something we did not have before.
We need more kids to get the vaccine though. According to DHHS, only 35% of eligible kids in North Carolina have been vaccinated. I believe high school sports can be an effective vehicle in promoting vaccines. Can we create vaccination clinics at games and events? DHHS could provide scripts for PA announcers to read about vaccinations and videos for coaches to show at parent meetings. We should also be doing more to promote the benefits of athletes being vaccinated.
If you're an athlete, here's an incentive to get the shot: Protocols say if you are vaccinated and you are exposed to COVID-19, you do not have to quarantine unless you become symptomatic. That means if enough players on teams are vaccinated, we don't have all of these teams unable to play because of player quarantines. It's important to realize, it's rare that entire teams are being quarantined anymore. What is often happening is many players are being quarantined and the team is left without enough players to compete. |
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| CLAYTON TO PLAY ON ITS NEW TURF FIELD TONIGHT |
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| We reported earlier this year that Clayton High School was getting artificial turf in its stadium. It is officially ready to be played on! The Comets will open conference play tonight against Fuquay-Varina on their new turf. We'll have it live on HighSchoolOT Live. |
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Have you noticed that we haven't heard much about HB 91 lately? It's been quiet in the legislature on this topic. The bill is in the education committee in the House now. Because it has to go through the committee process, that could mean any progress is slower now. The House has a lot of other things it has to deal with -- like the budget and redistricting. We will continue monitoring the progress of the bill each week though, so stay tuned.
Good luck to all the teams playing tonight!
-Nick Stevens |
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| Thank you for reading the HighSchoolOT Newsletter this week. Do you have suggestions, comments, or concerns? You can email me any time at nstevens@wral.com. |
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