Athletic Directors Greg Magni and John Bussard have made changes to their respective high schools’ sports schedules.
Opponents remained the same but dates were changed as the start of the fall season was pushed back to December or January by the California Interscholastic Federation because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Magni (Central Valley) and Bussard (Ceres High) have also submitted transportation and facility use requests to Ceres Unified School District and scheduled officials for football and boys and girls volleyball.
“All athletic directors in the area are doing the same thing,” Magni said. “The CIF gave us the map and we just need to follow it. I have 85 to 90 percent of the schedules complete. It took about a week of work to get organized and the logistics set up. There’s a lot more to be done.”
“The entire year’s schedule was done,” Bussard added. “Now I’m in the process of getting a new one complete. I’m about 75 percent done. It was a collaborative effort. The coaches have been very helpful.”
The CIF condensed three seasons of athletics—fall, spring and winter—into two seasons, which will be played between December and June.
The first tier of sports includes cross country, water polo, volleyball and football.
The football season will kick off the first week of January.
Central Valley and Ceres High will face off on Jan. 22.
The Hawks’ nine other opponents are Pitman (Jan.8), Pacheco (Jan. 15), Enochs (Jan. 29), Buhach Colony (Feb. 12), Golden Valley (Feb. 19), Patterson (Feb. 26), Atwater (March 5), Merced (March 12) and El Capitan (March 19).
The Bulldogs will play West (Jan. 8), LeGrand (Jan. 29), Lathrop (Feb. 5), Beyer (Feb. 12), Johansen (Feb. 19), Pacheco (Feb. 26), Los Banos (March 5), Mountain House (March 12) and Grace Davis (March 19).
“Football was easier to reschedule because there are only 10 games,” Magni said.
Volleyball (Dec. 29), cross country (Dec. 28) and water polo (Dec. 28) have different start dates.
The second tier of sports includes soccer, tennis, wrestling, basketball, swimming, baseball, softball, golf and track and field.
Soccer will get underway on March 1.
Tennis (March 8), Wrestling (March 8), basketball (March 9), swimming (March 22), baseball (March 22), softball (March 22), golf (March 29) and track and field (March 29) have later start dates.
Conditioning workouts for fall sports were suspended until further notice on July 13 after school district superintendents throughout Stanislaus County met with Public Health Officer Julie Vaishampayan.
“We look forward to the day we can start conditioning again,” Magni said. “Until the (COVID-19) numbers go down, nobody is going to be allowed to do anything. It’s a very unpredictable time.”
The CIF has yet to determine if spectators will be allowed to attend matches and meets. It will follow directives given by local and state health officials. “I don’t foresee it happening,” Bussard said.
