Forfeit results in default bi-district title
By Donnie A. Lucas
The 2020 football playoff season was supposed to start this week for the Albany Lions with a bi-district bout against the Chico Dragons, but the game became the latest victim of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday, school officials in Chico decided to forfeit the game due to COVID-19 cases within their program, leaving Albany with the bi-district title without even stepping foot on the field.
The Lions (8-1) are the first place team in District 8-A Div. II, while the Dragons (1-7) were the fourth place team from District 7-2A.
Albany finished the regular season with a 5-0 mark in district, while Chico’s lone win for the season was against Era (1-9, 0-4) from their five-team district.
Albany officials said that Era school administrators also opted to pass on moving up into the fourth place playoff position, leaving the Lions with another open week.
The game was slated to be played in Graham on Thursday (today).
The Lions are now waiting on the outcome of the Seymour/Ralls bi-district game, scheduled to be played this Friday, with the winner advancing to the area round against the Lions.
“This is a disappointing situation for everyone concerned,” head coach Denney Faith said. “But it’s something we don’t have control over.”
The coach said that the Lions will work on conditioning to stay in game shape as much as possible.
The Lions had an open date in the last week of the regular schedule, already causing a two-week gap in play. Now the team will be idle for three weeks before playing the area game.
“As soon as we know who we will be playing, we will start preparing our guys for the next game,” he said. “It is hard on a team to get out of the weekly rhythm of playing.”
Faith said that the playoffs are like starting a new season with the slate wiped clean.
“When you get to the playoffs, everything starts over,” the coach said. “We have to prepare thoroughly for each game because it will be our last if we lose.”
Statistically, Ralls (7-2, 3-1) would seem to have the advantage in their bi-district match-up as the second place team in District 5-2A just behind Hamlin. However, Seymour (4-6, 3-2) was the third place team in a competitive District 6-2A behind Quanah and Archer City.
Faith reported that the Lions spent last week working on fundamentals and staying in shape, but switched to preparing for Chico on Monday before the Dragons forfeited.
“We were glad to have an open week after the regular season for the guys to relax a little, heal up, and prepare for a long playoff run,” Faith said. “Now we have another week to wait, trying to keep the team at its peak.”
The coach noted that the JV Lions have all opted to move up to the varsity level for the playoffs.
The Lions advanced to the second round of the playoffs in 2019, losing to Windthorst, 24-20, at area. This season, Albany could face the Trojans in the third round and likely would meet Hamlin in the fourth round.
