Video: Marcus Bagley leads Sheldon
Highlights of sectional semifinal win over Rocklin.
As
Sheldon (Sacramento) waits Monday to find out if its CIF Open Division semifinal against
Dublin will proceed, another school in the California high school basketball tournament dropped out of the tournament over coronavirus concerns.
, the Northern California Division 1 top seed, announced it will not play its regional semifinal rescheduled for Monday at No. 4
De La Salle (Concord) after a "potential coronavirus issue" with a Riordan student and parent.
"Just received word our season is over due to the coronavirus case at our school," Riordan coach Joey Curtin texted MaxPreps. "All school activities have been suspended and campus shut down."
Curtin's news means De La Salle (24-7) hosts seventh-seed
Campolindo (Moraga) (24-6) on Tuesday. Site and time have yet to be determined. Riordan finishes its season at 23-5.
"I just feel so bad for our seniors," Curtin texted. "Man, this sucks."
A third game on Tuesday, the Division 4 boys basketball final between
Brookside Christian (Stockton) at
Lincoln (San Francisco) also appears in jeopardy after the San Francisco Unified School District canceled all "non-essential events to all SFUSD schools," effective Monday through March 22. That would include Tuesday's game.
Xavier Brown, Sheldon
Photo by Ralph Thompson
Sheldon made headlines over the weekend after the Elk Grove Unified School District pulled the team from the postseason and shut down campuses for the week after Sacramento County Public Health quarantined one of the district's 64,000 students over coronavirus concerns.
Public outcry and political pressure following Saturday's announcement followed and the California Interscholastic Federation, the state's athletic governing body, brokered a compromise to allow the Huskies back into the field if certain benchmarks were met.
So where are we on Monday?
Sheldon and Dublin, the Huskies' Tuesday opponent, await word that their semifinal can proceed.
According to reports from
the Sacramento Bee, test results on the quarantined student should be known some time Monday.
A negative result would mean Tuesday's rescheduled contest could be played.
Regardless of the results, Dublin coach Tom Costello said his team needs to know Monday which opponent to prepare for.
"We had made a request to know by at least 2:30 p.m.," Costello said. "We would like to know who we're playing and preparing for."
And while no Southern California school has had concerns over the global health crisis, the CIF state finals are at Sacramento's Golden 1 Center on Friday and Saturday. Many had anticipated a third straight Open Division showdown between nationally-ranked
Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) against Sheldon.
While the schedule is in limbo, CIF spokeswoman Rebecca Brutlag said "We are moving forward," with plans for 10 state championship games spread across the two days.
Los Angeles Times prep reporter Eric Sondheimer told MaxPreps there isn't the concern in Southern California like farther north, but added schools and districts are monitoring and re-evaluating.
"They are watching warily wondering if games will be played," he wrote. "Schools are not going to take chances so no one can really say 100 percent games will take place until Friday and Saturday.
"My place ticket was bought weeks ago. I'm not concerned. I have my sanitizer packed."
The CIF is encouraging districts and schools to play the games. It worked exhaustively with Sheldon, Dublin and the EGUSD to have a contingency plan in place. Same for the Menlo School (Atherton) at Bishop O'Dowd girls Division 1 basketball game that was eventually canceled when Menlo withdrew.
Now, CIF executive director Ron Nocetti has offered this when news of the SFUSD lockdown.
"If a district pulls their team out of an event, the CIF cannot overrule the decisions of a school district," Nocetti said. "That said, we know many school districts are making very difficult decisions at this time. We just went through one recently in Elk Grove. We would welcome the opportunity to engage with the SFUSD to discuss possible options allowing Lincoln to continue in this event."
MaxPreps senior writer Mitch Stephens contributed to this report.
