Like any coach on the morning of a state semifinal, Lone Peak coach Bart Brockbank was up early Thursday making last-minute preparations with his assistant coaches on strategy and game plan.
They were far from normal circumstances though.
Brockbank and an assistant coach both tested positive for COVID-19 and won’t be on the sidelines at Cedar Valley High School when Lone Peak faces region rival Skyridge at 7 p.m.
Lone Peak will also be missing two starting linemen who also tested positive.
Testing became mandatory as part of Gov. Gary Herbert’s new mandates that were announced Sunday. He ordered the suspension of all high school sports for two weeks — which impacts the start of basketball, swimming and wrestling seasons — but said football could finish the last two weeks of the season as long as coaches and players tested negative for COVID-19 72 hours before the game.
For the remaining 16 teams still playing in the semifinals and championship from 6A down to 2A, it’s been an extremely stressful week. All the other teams play on Friday and Saturday.
For Brockbank, that stress is now a reality with the positive tests. All Lone Peak positives were asymptomatic, he said.
“We talk about all the time next man up. At any given time anyone can go down. It’s a little different when a coach is out, but those are kind of the times we live in unfortunately,” he said. “I just explained to them ‘You guys are prepared, you’ll do just fine.’ You still have to play the game, and I have awesome assistant coaches and they’ll fill in and do great. If the boys will just go out and perform their best, you hold your head high, win, lose or draw.”
Brockbank said he’ll watch the game on TV from his home and communicate with his coaches via cellphone if he feels it’s necessary during the course of the game.
Lone Peak isn’t alone. Of the four teams playing in the 6A semifinals at Cedar Valley today, three will be missing players who tested positive for COVID-19.
Lone Peak’s opponent, Skyridge, will be down three players who tested positive, but coach Jon Lehman said none of them are starters.
No. 1 Corner Canyon is the only team who didn’t have a positive test, and it will be at full strength against East when they meet at 2 p.m. Thursday.
East coach Brandon Matich said his team only had one player test positive, but it’s a notable starter.
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November 12, 2020 at 11:06PM
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High school football: Lone Peak coach Bart Brockbank will miss semifinal - Deseret News
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