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Return To Normal

Eisenhower, Warren hold joint football practice

Times Observer Photo by Matt Spielman Members of the Eisenhower, left, and Warren football teams bump elbows following their joint practice Thursday evening at Dr. George W. Riley Memorial Field in Russell, Pa.

RUSSELL — On July 15, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association said it was moving forward with its fall sports season as scheduled.

The Warren County School District is taking the PIAA’s guidance to heart.

Warren and Eisenhower held a joint 11-on-11 football practice session Thursday evening at the Knights’ Dr. George W. Riley Memorial Field.

“This is just something Coach (Jim) Penley and I both believe in,” Warren head coach Mark Morelli said as his Dragons left the field. “It helps both programs as long as both programs can keep their cool. There are a lot of benefits to this on both sides of the ball for both teams.”

“It obviously helps a lot,” Penley said of being a member of the same county school district as Warren. “We don’t have to broker anything between two school districts. … We figure out how to get everyone logged in and get their temperatures checked. Warren is a great partner to work with so it’s a blessing.”

Times Observer Photo by Matt Spielman The Eisenhower and Warren football teams held a joint practice Thursday evening at Dr. George W. Riley Memorial Field in Russell, Pa.

The action looked a lot like any other late July noncontact practice. Players were in helmets, shorts and T-shirts with no other football pads. Each team’s offense ran 10 plays against the other team’s defense and then they switched. This repeated for about an hour-and-a-half.

“It’s something we really look forward to because it gives us a chance early to correct our mistakes and fix things,” Morelli said. “Offensively, we came in here with the attitude to work on our running game because we’ve done some seven-on-sevens already.”

“It is a really cool opportunity to get out here and kind of see your schemes and see your players,” Penley added.

It was hard to notice that the country is in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Players are undergoing the daily temperature checks as they log in for activities. Thursday night, coaches wore masks while linemen and linebackers on the defensive side of the ball held blocking pads to limit contact. When players were sent to the sidelines, they were asked to socially distance from their teammates.

Times Observer File Photo by Matt Spielman The Eisenhower and Warren football teams held a joint practice late last month at Dr. George W. Riley Memorial Field in Russell, Pa.

“Fortunately, there is some normalcy to all of this. It’s been going well,” Morelli said. “The kids are cooperative. They know what the routine is.”

And at the end of practice, players exchanged elbow bumps with their counterparts on the other team instead of the usual high fives.

“Enough of us have had to do this in our daily lives going outside,” Penley said of wearing masks and social distancing when necessary and/or possible. “It’s a little frustrating because as a coach you have to remind them as teenagers. … It’s like being a dad to 40 kids.”

Warren will return to action Saturday morning with a seven-on-seven competition in St. Marys. Then both schools, like others across Pennsylvania will wait for Aug. 10. That’s the first scheduled day of heat acclimatization week for the state’s football teams.

“It’s a tough call. In Pennsylvania, we don’t know what’s going to happen down the road with Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Erie. If that stuff keeps growing, we don’t know what’s going to happen,” Morelli said. “We’re fortunate in our area … as long as we can keep that down as a county, we’re going to be OK.”

Times Observer Photo by Matt Spielman The Eisenhower and Warren football teams held a joint practice Thursday evening at Dr. George W. Riley Memorial Field in Russell.

All other fall sports are scheduled to begin practices Aug. 17.

“We remind them, ‘Guys … stay clean,'” Penley said. “Don’t roam around with people you don’t know or who aren’t already in your circles. The last thing you want to do is ruin it for everyone. … We have a really big group of seniors this year. We don’t want to happen to them what happened to spring sports, and lose the opportunity to play this game this fall.”

Unfortunately, across the border the New York State Public High School Athletic Association has already delayed anything relating to fall sports from Aug. 24 until at least Sept. 21.

“We’ve talked about that fact … in New York state, this is what they’re doing. Over in Ohio, this is what they’re looking at doing,” Penley said. “Right now, we’re in a nice situation. They’ve basically said, unless the governor stops it, we’re going to let you get as many games in as you can.”

Despite the precautions and possible delays and/or cancellations down the road, both coaches were just glad to return some semblance of normalcy to their student-athletes lives.

“The kids have been great about it,” Penley said. “At the end of the day, football is going to be football.”

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