DEWAYNE HOLLOWAY|dewayne@mcnews.online
Mount Ida returns to action this week after an unscheduled bye last week due to COVID-19. They will face Bearden this week with the Junior Lions hosting the Cubs Thursday at 7 p.m. and the Senior Lions traveling to Bearden Friday with a 7 p.m. start time.
COVID-19 has already left its mark on the Mount Ida Lions football season with the Junior High sitting out for the second week in a row while the senior high team had two games canceled last week in the span of 24 hours.
Both Mount Ida teams were scheduled to face their counterparts from Jessieville last Friday, but a wave of COVID-19 cases and close contact protocol victims forced Jessieville to cancel their games with Mount Ida.
This is the second week in a row that the Junior Lions of Mount Ida missed a matchup after dealing with their own COVID-19 issues last week that forced a cancellation against Perryville.
Coach Zach Wuichet worked diligently to find a replacement opponent on such short notice. It was announced that Mount Ida would host Prescott JV at Preston Stidman Field at 7 p.m. Friday. However, within the hour Prescott had called and canceled the game.
Cancellations due to COVID-19 are often caused due to students out due to close contact tracing. The Arkansas Activities Association has stated that student athletes who have been fully vaccinated do not have to quarantine due to close contact tracing if they have tested negative for the virus. However, few student athletes have chosen to be vaccinated. Therefore they continue to risk quarantine due to close contact tracing.
Mount Ida is set to face the Beardan Bears this week. The Junior Lions will host Bearden Thursday with kick off set for 7 p.m. and the Senior Lions will travel to Bearden with gametime set for 7 p.m.
The Junior High teams did not play last year after Mount Ida’s junior high team had most of their team and the coaching staff out due to quarantine.
The Senior high team faced Beardan twice last year, defeating them in Week 4 of the season by a score of 17-6. Mount Ida opened postseason play last year with a 30-18 victory over the visiting Bears.
Mount Ida enters this week’s game with a 1-1 record while Bearden has yet to claim a victory.
