Pitchin with Pritch: High school sports takes center stage
The 2020-2021 activities season got through the first week! I hope that is a sign of good things to come.
There were several adjustments in schedules as there were 13 football games cancelled due to Covid-19.
Some of those schools got other teams to play. I would assume that some didn’t, and who knows how that will go as the season progresses.
I know, for example, that the Malcolm opponent cancelled. But the Clippers picked up Fairbury and they also picked up a win, so that was a good situation for them.
Our local football team traveled to Maxwell and opened the season with a nice 60-40 come-from-behind win. A nice start and one that should develop some confidence in the team after being behind and then coming on strong in the second half and getting the W.
Our volleyball team also had a nice opening to the season as they picked up wins over Sutherland and Creek Valley.
Although some of the settings at the contests will be handled differently this year, it is still good to see the teams getting to play and not lose out on some of their high school experiences.
I did take a look at the NSAA web page and just checked the football districts and to see how things went in the Plainsmen’s district.
Perkins County is in five-team district along with Hemingford, Bayard, Sutherland and Kimball.
In addition to the Plainsmen winning, Hemingford defeated Garden Co. 46-38, Bayard won 26-20 over Morrill, Sutherland lost to Cambridge 36-8 and Kimball lost to Hitchcock Co. 66-6.
The first game of the season gives coaches areas that need to be improved no doubt, but it certainly doesn’t give you too much insight to how the season is going to be at the end.
Throw in just a little thing like Covid-19 and you have pretty much no clue at all. Teams have to build on what they did this first week of the season, improve their skills, avoid injuries, and hope they catch a little bit of good luck along the way.
College Football . . .
College football seems to be in the “What can we decide to do today for a season, that we can change tomorrow?”
Some the TV talking heads made the comment that with the teams that said they will play their schedules and somehow have a national championship, they can’t do that if the Big 10 isn’t playing.
A couple of the programs said the PAC 10 doesn’t count so it doesn’t leave much of a group to be able to say one of them would end up as the National Champion.
The Big 10 said there would be no more discussion on whether they would play or not.
Then last week, they are talking about a late start in 2020 and maybe finishing it after the first of the year.
Some coaches have said that having football in the spring would not be a safe thing for the players as they would not have enough time to recover from injuries, or worst yet, recover properly from surgery.
There is no doubt a lot of wear and tear on the body in football and I feel like that thought is valid.
Lots of questions, lots of ifs and buts, but not enough answers yet!
Great coach gone
The country lost a great basketball coach this past week. Lute Olsen was the coach at Arizona University from 1983-2008.
He was inducted into both the Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
He was a five-time national Coach of the Year and seven-time Pac-10 Coach of the Year. His team was the National Champion in 1997 and he amassed a record of 589-187 at Arizona.
He also coached at Long Beach State and the University of Iowa and had a lifetime career record of 781-279. Coach Olsen was 85-year-old.