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p dir=”ltr”>Fires in the North Bay caused havoc in the South Bay and beyond last week as smoky conditions led to game cancellations across Santa Clara County as well as some headaches for Gilroy teams.
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p dir=”ltr”>Unlike their counterparts to the north, Gilroy and Christopher high schools did not see an outright moratorium on games through the weekend, but nonetheless felt the affects during the week.
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p dir=”ltr”>Outdoor activities on Oct. 11 were shuttered as the smoke was so thick in the region it became a health hazard to hold outdoor activities.
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p dir=”ltr”>As a result, a big showdown between the Gilroy and Christopher girls golf teams had to be moved to Monday.
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p dir=”ltr”>On Wednesday night, Oct. 10, smoke filled the gym at the Christopher volleyball match against Monte Vista Christian before the administration adjusted the air conditioning to filter out the haze.
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p dir=”ltr”>Gilroy was also forced to shutter a tennis match on Thursday, but got its field hockey match in on Friday. The tennis match against Monterey was moved to Monday.
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p dir=”ltr”>However, the football team’s scheduled game against Watsonville had to be scrapped when the Pajaro Valley Unified School District declared the air to be too unhealthy for outdoor activities.
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p dir=”ltr”>Coach Jubenal Rodriguez said the Watsonville coach let him know conditions were pretty bad on that side of the hill. But the call to scuttle the game didn’t come until 10am Friday.
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p dir=”ltr”>Rodriguez said the team took it in stride even if they were disappointed they didn’t get a chance to hit the field.
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p dir=”ltr”>“They understood why we couldn’t play. We got some extra rest that I think hit us at the right time,” Rodriguez said.
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p dir=”ltr”>Christopher, meanwhile, played its homecoming game against Alisal despite smoky air lingering like fog over the city.
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p dir=”ltr”>CHS coach Tim Pierleoni said the administration ultimately made the call as to whether the game would be a go and said concerns about having two weeks off or the fact it was homecoming didn’t play a factor.
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p dir=”ltr”>Christopher is off this weekend on its scheduled bye week.
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p dir=”ltr”>“I left it all up to the administration for whatever they wanted to do. I was good with whatever they decided,” Pierleoni said. “Either way, it didn’t make a difference to me.”
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p dir=”ltr”>Christopher was forced to find time to practice in the school’s gym, but had to do so around the schedules of other sports that had already scheduled gym time.
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p dir=”ltr”>Gavilan College was forced to postpone its men’s soccer match at Skyline College until Tuesday as a result of the smoke, but its volleyball and football teams got their respective games in.
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p dir=”ltr”>Gavilan spokeswoman Jan Bernstein-Chargin said the athletics teams were in close conversations with its team physician as well as the administration from the other schools during the week to make a call about the games.
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p dir=”ltr”>Football was thrown into chaos last Thursday when schools across Santa Clara and San Mateo counties began to postpone games due to health concerns.
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p dir=”ltr”>The Blossom Valley Athletic League—made up of schools largely in San Jose along with Cupertino and Morgan Hill—became the first to outright cancel games across all sports. The Peninsula Athletic League—made up of schools in northern Santa Clara County and San Mateo County—followed suit for football.
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p dir=”ltr”>As a result of the BVAL and PAL cancelling games and the West Catholic Athletic League deciding to move games until the following Monday, the Central Coast Section stepped in to give the football teams a chance to make up the missing games.
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p dir=”ltr”>CCS ruled in an emergency meeting that it will extend football’s regular season an extra week and start the playoff games a week later. So instead of the last games being played Nov. 3 and 4, the final games will no conclude the week of Nov. 10.
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p dir=”ltr”>Playoffs will now begin Nov. 17 and run through the week of Dec. 1 for finals.
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p dir=”ltr”>Once CCS made its ruling, the BVAL said it will make up its games Nov. 9, to accommodate Veterans Day.
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p dir=”ltr”>Gilroy initially said it will make up the Watsonville game Nov. 10, but the game could be played Nov. 9 as a result of Veterans Day. Christopher will have a bye week that week and will be forced to play a waiting game to see if it makes the playoffs.
