
For the second straight week, Avon High’s football game was postponed due to issues with the COVID-19 virus.
For the second consecutive week, the Avon High football program postponed Friday’s scheduled varsity football game due to issues with COVID-19, according to head coach Jeff Redman and athletic director Tim Filon.
A week ago, the Falcons postponed their season-opening contest with Tolland due to COVID-19 issues, Filon confirmed. On Wednesday, the school postponed Friday’s game at Rocky Hill.
Last week, the school reported on Friday afternoon that a member of the Avon High community had tested positive for COVID-19.
Based on the information the school gathered through contact tracing protocols and in consultation with the Farmington Valley Health District, it was determined those individuals who were in close contact with the impacted individual needed to quarantine.
Filon said the game with Tolland was postponed because of contact tracing and rules around quarantining, the Falcons didn’t have enough players to safely play the game.
It’s the similar situation this week with the Rocky Hill with some Falcon players in quarantine protocols.
Due to guidelines from the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC), some Avon players would have had to miss Friday’s game with Rocky Hill.
“We were practicing and preparing to play Rocky Hill with a lot of missing players,” Redman said. “But with more positive tests (in school), it became unsafe for us to try.”
As of Friday at 1:30 p.m., Avon’s COVID dashboard reported 12 positive COVID-19 tests at Avon High among students and faculty and 53 AHS students or faculty in quarantine due to a close contact. Some contacts came in school while others came in the general community.
The CIAC’s fall sports guidelines provide guidance on quarantining and the quarantine period is different depending on if the athlete has received a vaccine or not.
Fully vaccinated players who are a close contact do not have to quarantine provided they remain asymptomatic and wear a mask until receiving a negative COVID-19 test, taken 3-to-5 days after the contact or 14 days without a test.
Unvaccinated asymptomatic students who are a close contact will quarantine for 10 days (with a negative test on day 8 or later). They can also quarantine for 14 days without taking a test.
Students (vaccinated or unvaccinated) that experience COVID-19 symptoms after a close contact with a known COVID-19 case will quarantine for 10 days (with a negative test on day 8 or later) or quarantine 14 days without a test.
Technically, the Falcons may have had enough players to field a team but Redman has consistently refused to put younger kids on the field with bigger, stronger upperclassmen unless they were physically ready.
“One, we don’t want to expose Rocky Hill to anything,” Redman said. “Two, it’s not safe for our kids to go over (and play) with lower numbers. They would play both ways and wouldn’t get a break at all. To put young players on the field to try and get in a football game would be (foolhardy).”
“It all comes down to safety and making a decision that is right for the kids,” he said.
Redman said he hopes the team can resume practicing next week.
“It’s extremely disappointing (not to play),” Redman said. “We’re all bummed out. But we don’t have control over this thing (COVID-19).
Avon is scheduled to play at Notre Dame-Fairfield on Saturday, September 25 at noon.
Filon said that the Tolland game has been rescheduled for Friday, Oct. 15 at Avon. Both teams initially had a bye on that weekend. No decision has been made yet regarding rescheduling the Rocky Hill contest.
Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.


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