Ellis County ranks No. 20 in population among the 105 Kansas counties. The county, with just under 29,000 people, has four high schools: Hays High, Thomas More Prep-Marian, Ellis and Victoria.
The county has limited COVID-19 cases. Ellis County stands No. 31 in total cases by county with 44, according to the latest data released Friday from Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). Forty-three counties have reported under 10 COVID cases, and 63 have under 31.
Per capita, Ellis County stands No. 68 with 1.52 cases per 1,000 citizens, according to KDHE. Overall, Kansas had 6.4 cases per 1,000 since the data was first tracked in March.
On June 29, third-year Hays High football coach Tony Crough discussed summer weights and conditioning. While the summer recreation season was slightly cut short because of COVID-19, Ellis County summer teams are still playing around 80 percent of their games. The Hays Recreation Commission has hosted basketball tournaments, and Hays Legion hosted its annual Fourth of July tournament earlier this month.
“We have been on a lot less restrictions down here than it sounds like what most of the state is dealing with, and so I’d say we’ve been fairly fortunate and lucky to kind of be able to get the kids back in the weight room,” Crough said. “And get them doing some sports and some activities again.”
With just under two months remaining before the high school football season starts, Crough was uncertain whether the Indians would be able to play a full schedule. Hays High is in the five-team Western Athletic Conference with Great Bend, Dodge City, Liberal and Garden City. Great Bend is in Barton County, Dodge City in Ford, Liberal is part of Seward County and Garden City in Finney County.
This season, Hays will travel to Wichita East in Week 1, at Maize South in Week 7 and versus Wichita Northwest in Week 8. All three schools are part of Sedgwick County. Lastly, Hays High faces Abilene (Dickinson County) in non-league.
As of July 10th, Ford, Sedgwick, Finney and Seward all ranked in the top-7 for most COVID-19 cases in Kansas. Those four counties have recorded between 1,016 and 2,074 coronavirus cases.
Additionally, Ford, Seward and Finney have by far the highest COVID-19 per capita. Ford has 59 cases per 1,000 people, while Seward is 45 people per 1,000, and Finney is at 42 cases every 1,000. Wyandotte, located in Kansas City, is fourth at 17.8. Clark County stands fifth at 16.6.
Ford, Seward, Finney and Clark are all in southwest Kansas. Sedgwick County ranks No. 25 in cases per 1,000 people.
COVID-19 raw numbers have risen in recent weeks, specifically in the Kansas City counties (Wyandotte, Johnson) and Sedgwick (Wichita). Wyandotte had 2,553 cases as of July 3, or 15.3 people per 1,000. On July 10, it was up to 2,930, or 17.8.
Kansas City-Washington senior quarterback Cory Macon is considered a Division I FCS talent and helped Washington, located in Wyandotte County, to its best season in 15 years last fall.
“Health is always above anything, so if it regards to us being safe, I would rather have no season, but if we can have a season, then I will take whatever they give us and just be grateful for it,” Macon said last Thursday in Salina.
Longtime Garden City coach Brian Hill, who has an adult son with cystic fibrosis, wants to play this fall. Hill said Garden City had more than 3,500 check-ins with boy and girl athletes from seventh to 12th grade for summer weights with no COVID-19 cases. Only one boy was sick and he recovered in a couple of days.
“I want my kids to get out there,” Hill said Friday in Salina at the annual Sharp Performance combine. “I think they need it more for the mental side of things.”
Hill and Crough are more than 10 coaches and players Kpreps has talked with during the last two months regarding the 2020 football season. Virtually all everyone believes a year will occur, and multiple players believed a full season would happen.
Crough said “there hasn’t been any talk” of scheduling scenarios.
In a Zoom call with reporters on July 1, KSHSAA Executive Director Bill Faflick said “there may be some schools” that don’t play a full nine-game football schedule.
In the last week, the Ivy League has cancelled fall sports, and the Big 10 and Pac 12 have elected to cancel non-conference football games. On Monday, junior colleges are expected to announce a move to spring football for an eight-game season that will run from the end of March through the end of May.
“We have all kind of speculated things that might happen, but really we haven’t talked much about it just because we don’t know,” Crough said. “I mean, seems like every week everybody has got a new thought on what might happen. But I think the ADs, and everyone else are just kind of waiting to see what happens through the rest of the summer here. But as of now yeah, it looks like we are full schedule and everything’s going to be the same until we get told otherwise.”
A few hours after Kpreps talked with Crough, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly had her weekly press conference. As it has often occurred during the last few months since coronavirus swept through the world, mandates again updated.
Kelly ordered Kansans to use masks in public spaces as coronavirus cases grow across the state and nation. She signed the mandate July 2. Multiple school districts have since announced athletes have to wear masks during summer conditioning.
Several counties, generally in the north central and north west portion of the state, have elected to not follow Kelly’s mandatory face mask order. These include Rooks, Osborne, Norton, Phillips, Cheyenne and Ellis. In Ellis, the county commission voted unanimously July 1 to not require Ellis County residents to wear a mask.
As well, Faflick discussed a false social media post that KSHSAA would host a July 15 meeting for the purpose of discussing the cancellation of fall sports.
“That rumor is totally not accurate,” Faflick said. “Unfortunately, someone was pretty irresponsible with social media and never talked with anybody here.”
Faflick supported universal masking.
“It is important for us to take every precaution now to mitigate risk of the spread of COVID-19 so that we have the best chance possible to resume school – to come back to school – with the healthiest student population, staff population in Kansas possible,” Faflick said. “And we all have a part and responsibility to do that now.”
Faflick and KSHSAA are still planning for a fall sports season. In the spring, the basketball state tournament semifinals and finals, along with all spring sports, were cancelled because of the coronavirus.
In addition, notably Michigan has discussed flipping the fall and spring sports seasons. Faflick said that is a “very damaging” scenario for Kansas if the seasons are flipped and the fall sports season is cancelled. This week, the Kansas State Department of Education is expected to release Navigating 2020 guidelines for the school year.
“Our efforts right now are directed at preparing for the fall season,” Faflick said. “All of our efforts right now are directed at equipping our member schools with considerations as they get ready to go on August 17. We still have seven weeks to go until we get the opportunity to see kids in fall sports practices.”
Faflick said it’s possible for football teams to not play its full nine-game schedule because of coronavirus concerns. Faflick said the question has been “discussed at length” and will continue to be discussed.
“I anticipate that out of a nine-game football schedule, there may be some schools that don’t get to play all nine games,” he said.
Faflick believed Kansans “are going to have to exercise some agility” with the scheduling.
“There may be some situations where games cannot be played, because teams can’t be put together,” he said. “They have got too many kids that are out, or they choose not to play a particular game, so we need to come to a final decision on some of that information, on that big decision, because that will impact scheduling.”
“We don’t want it to be a situation where you are not playing because that’s a really good team,” Faflick added. “But there’s a valid reason for you not to play in a particular contest, so we will provide that detail as we get closer. That’s certainly on the draft list at this point.”
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Scheduling could be very dependent based on the geographic location of teams and its respective opponents. While Hays High is scheduled to face teams in high COVID-19 areas, its Ellis County brethren is by and large not.
TMP and Ellis are in the Mid-Continent League, a conference that ranges from Oakley to Smith Center. The majority of the schools are within one hour driving distance and are generally Class 2A and 3A schools. TMP and Hays High both play home games at Fort Hays State’s Lewis Field Stadium, which seats 6,362 fans and is a venue where social distancing is relatively simple for high school events.
TMP’s first three games come against Oakley, Russell and Plainville. Russell County and Logan County, which has Oakley, each have one coronavirus case.
In Week 3, TMP plays Plainville, a 25- minute drive. Rooks County, which has schools in Plainville, Palco and Stockton, had nine COVID cases and seven have recovered, according to the most recent data.
In Week 5, TMP plays Ellis in-county. The Monarchs face Syracuse in Week 4, and finish with Kismet-Southwestern Heights, Cimarron and Lakin. Those teams and Ellis form Class 2A, District 7. Syracuse, SW Heights, Cimarron and Lakin are part of counties that rank in the top-21 in COVID per capita. Three of those are in counties that stand in the top-nine.
However, Cimarron senior Hunter Renick, one of the top players in southwest Kansas with a pair of collegiate offers, believes the season will occur. Cimarron, located in Gray County, is 19 miles west of Dodge City on US-50 E.
“I believe everything is going to go as normal,” Renick said at Sharp Performance. “We haven’t had an outburst.”
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Victoria, in the Central Prairie League, has 1A and 2A schools, all which play eight-man football. Victoria is in Eight-Man, Division II, District 5 with Chase, Claflin-Central Plains, Otis-Bison, Sylvan Grove, Tescott and Wilson.
All of the opponents are in counties that rank No. 43 to 96 in cases per capita. In particular, the counties for Chase, Otis-Bison, Sylvan and Wilson collectively combine for 22 COVID cases. Lincoln County, which has Sylvan, has one case.
Victoria coach Doug Oberle, 121-33 with three state titles in 14 head coaching seasons with the Knights, posted on Twitter on June 22 after a Kansas high school student tested positive for COVID-19 in the Centre USD 397 school district, located about four miles from Marion.
Oberle is a Rule 10 coach who has worked as an occupational therapy assistant for many years. He responded to the story.
“Will they be reporting every time a high school kid has influenza throughout the school year?,” Oberle wrote on Twitter.
In a July 7 phone call, Oberle said he wants team that have the ability to play in “a safe environment to have that right.” According to data released last Monday, more than 10,000 people, or more than half of those with a positive test, have recovered, according to Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The average median age of the deaths is 79.
“I definitely feel like at this point the data needs to be looked at,” Oberle said. “I think it needs to be used in terms of hospitalizations, in terms of the death rate going down, those types of things, and decisions made based off that, and not on blanket-type of decisions.”
Oberle emphasized the data shows COVID has significantly impacted the older population, a point echoed by Garden City’s Hill.
“There’s no question there’s a certain percentage of people that COVID affects,” Oberle said. “I also think there needs to be a really, really, really hard look at asymptomatic COVID cases and what their effect is, what their percentage is in terms of infection control.”
Oberle also noted the decrease in COVID death rate. As of July 12, the CDC posted that last week marked the 11th consecutive week of declining COVID deaths across the country.
“For children (0-17 years), cumulative COVID-19 hospitalization rates are much lower than cumulative influenza hospitalization rates at comparable time points during recent influenza seasons,” the CDC wrote.
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Other coaches have echoed similar sentiments. Shawnee Mission Northwest coach Bo Black has won 108 games in his career. His son, Ty, is SMNW’s standout quarterback and an Air Force commit. Last season, the program went 7-3, the most wins since ’07.
Shawnee has 962 coronavirus cases as of July 10, though ranks No. 19 on the per-capita list for cases per 1,000 residents. Johnson County is No. 23 on the per-capita, and while nearby Wyandotte County is fourth.
“Dear Final Decision Makers, PLAY FOOTBALL IN 2020,” Black wrote on Twitter on July 2. “Thank you.”
Out west, Wheatland-Grinnell finished 8-2 and won a district championship in ’19, the best season since Grainfield and Grinnell consolidated in the mid-2000s. Last year, the Thunderhawks had two games cancelled because of forfeits.
Coach Jesse Vincent returns a talented roster that feature his sons Trey and Jett at quarterback and defensive back, respectively, and standout senior linebacker Trevor Zarybnicky. Wheatland-Grinnell has a full schedule this year, including a marquee Week 1 home game versus Axtell, a defending state runner-up.
The Thunderhawks face Axtell, Kinsley, Stockton, Quinter, Wallace County, Logan-Palco, St. Francis and Triplains-Brewster. Wheatland-Grinnell and Quinter are both in Gove County, which has had two cases and ranks No. 84 on the per-capita list.
“If COVID messes up this fall, I am going to be mad,” coach Vincent said in an in-person interview in Grainfield on June 20. “Because we are sitting with a great three classes of athletes, and kids still coming up, too, but we really need to have another year like we did last year in my opinion to cement the culture that we are trying to develop.”
Logan-Palco and Triplains-Brewster both draw from two counties.
Logan is in Phillips County, while Palco is in Rooks. Winona-Triplains is in Logan, and Brewster in Thomas.
As of July 3, the opponents collectively had 55 COVID cases in its counties with 36 documented recoveries. In the last week, Phillips has had a significant spike with Logan Manor, the long-term care facility. Phillips is up to 28 positive cases after 10 on July 3.
Coach Mike Jenner said once Phillips County opened up, the Trojans started their weight program at the beginning of June. Palco opened its weight program the following week. Logan-Palco meets once a week as a team and the players lift at their respective schools. Reached via phone on June 27, Jenner called it “pretty much like the normal.”
“I haven’t talked to a lot of the coaches around here yet, but from what I am hearing from our administration, it’s sounded like we are going to play, somehow, someway,” Jenner said.
However, shortly after the June 27 call, Logan shut down summer practices and weights because of the COVID cluster at Logan Manor. As of July 13 afternoon, there is a Logan board meeting scheduled for July 13 evening to discuss, among other topics, whether or not Logan can resume weights and practices.
Theoretically, six-man football could be played regardless of KSHSAA’s rulings. Last season, 12 teams played six-man football, with 15 expected this fall. Six-man football is not a KSHSAA sanctioned sport. The majority of six-man teams are in towns with very limited or zero COVID cases. Still, six-man teams will follow KSHSAA rulings.
“We said that we were going to honor everything that KSHSAA did, transfer rules, eligibility, and things like that, so if KSHSAA makes a decision that they are not going to have a fall sports season, we would honor that as well,” Rexford-Golden Plains coach Travis Smith told Kpreps in May.
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Hill’s son, Derek, is 23. Derek has cystic fibrosis, which affects the lungs. Derek has lived most of his life with a mask. Hill, entering his 11th season as Garden City’s head football coach, would put on hand sanitizer for his last step before he left school each day. When COVID first happened, Hill was worried. He talked with Derek, now married and living in Dallas.
However, Derek, an avid runner, has lived a generally normal life during COVID. Father and son have seen each other. Derek has also seen his step-sister in San Antonio, his in-laws in Nebraska, and done normal events, such as go to the grocery store, get gas and use public restrooms.
Derek was in school and working part-time at UPS, but it not currently working. His dad said he is receiving temporary disability. Coach Hill said following basic rules like washing hands, not rubbing eyes and not drinking after people are key.
“It definitely scared the heck out of me at first when they told me what the virus affected, and called right down immediately, and he got with his doctor,” Hill said. “But we have done a great job, and even his doctor has told him don’t just sit at home. Get out and run. Get out and walk. Take the dogs for a walk, whatever. I just look at him and know that this something that can be managed if you will take your time and to really look at the things that need to be done.”
Hill has noticed fewer cases in Finney County the last several weeks, and the county has had just 17 positive cases between July 3 and July 10. Since the start of the coronavirus, Hill was aware of seven Finney County deaths. He said five of the seven “for sure” had underlying conditions, and the youngest to pass was 58.
GCHS started its summer weight program June 15, two weeks after Kansas allowed schools to start summer work. Hill praised his athletes for following guidelines such as hand washing and distancing.
“The first day we had our kids together, we had to kind of kick them out after awhile, because all they wanted to do afterwards was talk to one another, because they hadn’t that opportunity,” Hill said.
Hill also noted that after the Sept. 11 attacks, sports was one of the avenues “that brought our entire country back together.” He believes sports “would be a great thing” now, too.
“When we didn’t know anything about (COVID), it was a little easier to take and now, we are going to have some people that are probably going to be (with) some pretty hard feelings,” Hill said regarding another cancellation. “But I am hoping that we could play.”
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