CIAC Postpone Football Season to the Spring 2021

By:Alessandro Zabalza
 
It’s no secret that Connecticut and the CIAC have canceled their football season and moved it to the Spring due to COVID-19. As a senior on the Wethersfield High School football team, I decided to interview my teammates and a coach to see what they think about it. 
 
I ran into senior starting quarterback Vasilios Tsipouras and asked how he felt about Connecticut’s football season getting postponed, he said ,“It’s tough for the whole program. Mentally, kids are getting more depressed and more anxious because they can’t play with their football family until the spring. Hopefully it's a safer environment, with less COVID. But for now we are going to get stronger and build as a family.”
 
The CIAC has claimed to follow through with having a spring season with a maximum of 5 games and no playoff extension. Although, if COVID rates drop significantly then there may be a chance of having a small playoff extension.
 
Head Coach of the WHS football program, Coach McKinnon, was asked how he felt about the postponing of the fall season to the spring. He said, “It was hard to take in at first. I understand, with the metrics, and the safety that goes with it, but the big thing that I don't understand is every other sport is playing, but football is being singled out. We never got a specific answer to that question from DPH or from CIAC which made all the football coaches in the state upset. We are hoping now that February is a go.”
 
To gain more information about what my teammates thought, I knew I had to ask someone who I know that absolutely loves football and secretly gives every second of his day to getting better at what he does, just like me. I asked junior linebacker, Tyler Burgos, what he thought about the season getting canceled. He said, “I was kinda hoping to go into fall to start practicing with the team, having games, and then bringing home a championship with my boys. But now with the season being moved to the spring, it just gives us more time to get a lot stronger, faster, and more elite to dominate the season no matter how many games we get.
 
After interviewing Coach McKinnon and my teammates on the Wethersfield Football Team, I realized that at the end of the day, we were all on the same page. Everyone on the team really wants to start playing games again. As Coach McKinnon said during his interview, it isn’t fair how the CIAC isn’t giving anyone an answer as to why the football season is canceled and the other sports get to conduct their normal season. Whatever happens, I know the coaching staff and my teammates on the WHS football team are ready to get back to work and completely dominate the spring season.
 
Although WHS football players and coaching staff are disappointed with the decision of the CIAC to move the football season to the spring, all of us are still very happy the season wasn’t canceled fully. We are one hundred percent ready to get back to playing games and playing some football with our brothers.