3 High School Football Teams Shut Down After Outbreaks: Reports

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD — Three Anne Arundel County high schools ended their varsity football seasons early after players tested positive for coronavirus, the Capital Gazette reported this week. The Glen Burnie High School Gophers, the Northeast High School Eagles and the South River High School Seahawks will all head to the sidelines, the Capital added.

Journalist Tim Schwartz noted that Northeast and South River also called off the remainder of their junior varsity football seasons. Glen Burnie's JV team will finish its schedule, Schwartz clarified.

The Capital first reported Glen Burnie's shutdown Wednesday evening. The Northeast announcement came a few hours later. South River's closure followed Friday morning.

Anne Arundel County Public Schools normally has a 10-game fall football season. This year, AACPS bumped the schedule to the spring and allowed a four-game slate. Glen Burnie, Northeast and South River all played two games before their cancellations.

Glen Burnie

Glen Burnie Principal Scott McGuire sent a letter to families Tuesday, telling them a student-athlete tested positive.

McGuire mentioned that the player participated in the road game against the Southern High School Bulldogs on April 1. The student was last with the team on April 2, but the principal explained that his close contacts "cannot be definitively determined."

Therefore, anybody who participated in either team activity must get tested and quarantine for 14 days, regardless of their test result.

"No one is at fault for the spread of this virus," McGuire wrote. "It is in a time like this that we all must support each other, and I know that we will do that."

The Gophers ended their season at 0-2.

Northeast

The Capital indicated that Northeast had at least four positive tests between its varsity and JV programs. The school will reach out to close contacts, who must quarantine for 14 days. Principal Jason Williams suggested that anyone who was with the team on March 26, 27 or 29 get tested as well.

"We have had conversations with the Anne Arundel County Department of Health as to the proper course of action," Williams said Tuesday in a letter. "Our other programs will continue with the schedule we have established."

The Eagles were 1-1.

South River

A positive student-athlete was last at practice on Monday and last in school on Tuesday, the Capital advised. Like Glen Burnie, the entire team must get tested and quarantine for 14 days, the news outlet continued.

"Shutting down our football program was a difficult but necessary decision," South River Principal Stacey Smith wrote in a Thursday letter, according to the Capital. "It is important to understand that we are in the midst of a pandemic."

The Seahawks finished with a 1-1 record.

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