Pearce suspends high school football activities for ‘several days’ due to COVID-19 situation
Casey Pearce, the athletic director and head football coach for Breckenridge Independent School District, announced on Monday afternoon that the high school boys football competition and training activities will be suspended for several days due to the recent increase in COVID-19 positive cases in Stephens County and the surrounding area, as well as the need to adhere to the guidelines set forth by the State of Texas.
In a written statement, Pearce said the decision was made after lengthy communication and exploration of the developing situation.
The active cases affected the football program to a point in which both the junior varsity and varsity teams have lost multiple athletes and coaches to contact tracing, COVID-19-like symptoms, and exposure to people who have tested positive.
“At this time as the Athletic Director and Head Football Coach, it is in the best interest of the program to make this decision to suspend football activities at the high school level until this spike of symptoms and positive contacts subsides,” he said in the statement. “This decision is a punch to the ‘gut’ and not easy to make. My competitive side and pride can’t be the reason not to make an aggressive decision like this, to err on the side of our athletes. Let it be understood that this is being done in a pro-active manner.”
The JV and Varsity games against the Wall High School Hawks, originally scheduled for Friday, Oct. 23, has been canceled. On Monday evening, Pearce said that, at this time, only the Wall game is canceled. The status of the games against Jim Ned (Oct. 30) and TLC-San Angelo (Nov. 6) will likely be made next week.
Brant Thurmond contributed to this article.
Editor’s Note: This article was updated at 5:34 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19, to add details about which games have been canceled.
