‘It’s hard to look my seniors in the eyes.’ Game between rivals Merced, Atwater canceled
Friday night’s varsity Santa Fe Bowl football game, which features longtime rival high schools Merced and Atwater has been canceled after positive COVID-19 tests within the Atwater football program.
The junior varsity game will still be played at Dave Honey Stadium. Merced (3-1) was able to find a replacement game and will travel to Oakdale at 7 p.m. on Friday instead.
“We do the testing every Monday and we had a number of students test positive,” said Merced Union High School District spokesperson Sam Yniguez. “For safety reasons we could not let Atwater play this week.”
With this being the final week of the spring season, the Falcons’ season is over.
“It’s hard to look my seniors in the eyes right now,” said Atwater coach Seneca Ybarra, whose team finishes with a 1-3 record. “We put in a lot of time so it’s tough not to be able to finish the season. I feel for my seniors because they’ve had a lot of things taken away from them this year. I’m happy that Merced was able to find a game and coach (Rob Scheidt) and his kids can finish their season off right.”
Merced will travel to The Corral which will be a rematch of the 2019 Division IV semifinal game won by Oakdale 51-27. It was the last game Merced played before the coronavirus pandemic.
Oakdale’s original opponent Ripon was unable to play due to a delay in their COVID-19 testing results, according to Scheidt. Oakdale is 3-1 this season.
“There’s a lot of things I feel really fortunate for,” Scheidt said. “One of them being I felt we had our best practice of the year last night. It was almost a celebration as we get ready to play our final game. Then today I barely pulled in the parking lot at 7 a.m. and got a phone call saying it doesn’t look good about us having a game.
“We were scrambling up and down to find a game and then I got a phone call from a guy (Oakdale coach Trent Merzon) I respect a ton. We got confirmation that we got a game. We don’t have to to travel somewhere where we don’t know. It’s a good situation for us.”
Friday’s Games
Buhach Colony at Central Catholic
Hilmar at Golden Valley
Merced at Oakdale
Delhi at Big Valley
Gustine at Livingston
El Capitan at Le Grand
Ceres at Los Banos
Pacheco at Central Valley
Dos Palos at Coalinga
Liberty at Chowchilla
