Athens suspends football practice until Aug. 20

The Athens Golden Eagles were scheduled to kickoff the 2020 high school football season at Fort Payne on August 21st. The North Alabama squad will instead be sidelined until August 20th after a pair of players tested positive for COVID-19.

“We want to have a fun and safe football season, but we also understand that this can only happen if students, parents, and the school system work together”. Beth Patton – Acting Superintendent, Athens City Schools

The school district said that they are confident in the safety measures in place at practice but added that they have no control over what students do outside of practice.

The Golden Eagles are slated to host 7A James Clemens on August 28th before begging 6A, Region 8 play at home against Columbia on September 4th.

Athens joins Oneonta and St. Luke’s Episcopal who entered a 14 day quarantine last week.

Concerns related to COVID-19 have prompted several Alabama school districts to delay or eliminate participation in fall sports. Greene and Sumter counties announced late last month that they would not field teams during the fall. Choctaw County High and Southern Choctaw announced that they will not participate during the first nine weeks of the academic year, effectively putting the breaks on their football and volleyball seasons. Muscle Shoals and Deshler high schools will delay the start of their seasons until September.  Barbour County is currently the only school district in Alabama to cancel all athletic participation for the entire 2020-2021 school year.

Pike County and Goshen high schools are reportedly altering their football and volleyball schedules to include only region matchups.