Special - File
Above: Referees had to be as cautious as anyone during the 2020 football sesaon, wearing masks the entire game on the field to protect themselves
and the players from COVID-19. Below: McEachern coach Franklin Stephens communicates with his players during the Grayson game.
By Jake Jennings
MDJ Sports Writer
A year-and-a-half removed from the beginning of the
COVID-19 outbreak, Cobb and Cherokee County football
programs are still feeling the effects.
Different programs saw different challenges as society
closed down in 2020. For some coaches it was something
as simple as keeping the kids strong through home workouts
and for others it was just getting the kids to come to
practice. The common denominator across the two counties
— adaptability.
“Anytime you are going through something you haven’t
been through it is trial by error,” Harrison coach Josh Cassidy
said. “Our goal as a coaching staff was to adapt to what
was going on and to adjust our main focus along the way.”
For Cassidy and the staff at Harrison, that meant coaching
from Zoom calls during a two week quarantine. The
Hoyas had to take multiple weeks off of the practice field
because of an outbreak within the coaching staff. The time
off taught Cassidy that Zoom was great… but not as good
as face-to-face.
Adaptability had a more hands-on meaning for other
coaches. Campbell coach Howie DeCristofaro said getting
kids to the practice field was the hardest thing to overcome
through the pandemic. To jump over that hurdle, he took
DIY to a whole new level.
“We were using the bus to pick up 30 to 35 kids each day
just to bring them to practice. Then they would have a really
long day,” DeCristofaro said.
Although neither Creekview coach Trevor Williams and
Sequoyah coach James Teter had to drive a bus around
town before practice, they did have road blocks of their
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