Woodford County football coach Dennis Johnson coping with COVID quarantine, worries what might happen when schools start back

Losing 40-22 to Franklin County Friday night was enough of a downer for Woodford County coach Dennis Johnson after his team had opened the season with a 35-13 win over Great Crossing. However, what happened in the next two days after the game was even worse news.

“A kid from Franklin County had a cut or something and the trainer told him it did not look good. He was going to need some kind of (medical) procedure but before the procedure he had to get tested (for COVID-19). He tested positive and they called us,” said Johnson, a former all-SEC defensive end at Kentucky. “Everybody for us that played in the game had to be quarantined.

“Players that were on the sideline but didn’t play and coaches originally were not going to be quarantined. Then we had a kid Monday test positive and our whole team is in quarantine even though we had tried to follow every protocol to keep this from happening.”

Obviously Woodford’s game with Frankfort Friday has been cancelled. The Yellow Jackets had already moved a game set for Oct. 2 with West Jessamine to Nov. 6. Johnson hopes his team will be able to play Oct. 9 against Madison Southern.

“To think we were doing everything right and then get shut down is tough,” Johnson said. “We had a Zoom meeting with the team and our coaches did position meetings the same way. This is a test for us now to see how disciplined we are and how we can keep up with our academics.
“We have got to make the best of a bad situation. There is stuff players can do at home hopefully but we are basically all locked in our houses.”

When the quarantine does in, Johnson knows he’ll need a day of conditioning with no helmets, at least one day in helmets and hopefully one day of contact before the game with Madison Southern.

“It’s going to be different but this is a different type of year for everybody,” the Woodford coach said. “It’s not just us.”

Central Hardin has had to cancel games with Henry Clay and Butler due to COVID-19. Franklin County obviously will not play for two weeks.

Jackson County cancelled a game with Garrard County last week and Rockcastle County at Estill County was as well. Pineville at Western Hills was also cancelled.

“It’s just all part of how this year is,” Johnson said. “Hopefully we will be back playing soon.”

But he’s worried about what could happen with more schools returning to in-person classes next week. About one-third of the school districts in Kentucky are scheduled to return to some form of in-person classes next week, including Woodford County.

“Kids are going to be touching, bumping into each other and playing around. It’s what kids do,” Johnson said. “That could really impact the COVID numbers and what happens with football. If someone in the school gets it and the school goes into quarantine, how does that impact football and other sports. That worries me a lot more than what has happened with individual football games. Going back to school could be the bomb that blows it all up. We start Monday but all our players will obviously still be in quarantine then.

“I guess this is just our new normal. Kids want to play. I want us to play as many games as we can safely but having kids back in school does scare me. I can control my players to some extent at football but school is different. We’ll just see what happens in the next few weeks.”