We've heard of many high school athletes playing two sports in one season during the pandemic.
Jayce Knapp is the first we've heard of playing one sport in two different seasons during the same school year — in two different states.
In fact, the reason Knapp, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound senior quarterback, was able to manage this is because his family lived in two different states with different approaches to handling COVID-19.
Knapp played two varsity seasons for
Wilsonville (Ore.), the second as a starter in 2019, when he threw for 1,676 yards, 20 touchdowns and just four interceptions for an 8-3 Wildcats team.
The following year, his dad's business led a family move to Texas, where Knapp played in five games at
Del Valle. Again, Knapp put up some good numbers, throwing for more than 1,000 yards and 17 touchdowns (four interceptions). He piled up 336 yards and three touchdowns in the final games of the season, a 39-34 loss to Austin.
Jayce Knapp during his 336-yard passing performance for Del Valle in the fall against Austin.
File photo by Sean Roach
Texas was one of 35 states to play a traditional fall season, though it did delay its top two divisions (6A and 5A) six weeks. Del Valle is an unincorporated part of Travis County, near Austin.
The family moved back to Wilsonville in the winter and because Oregon changed football to the spring, Knapp was able to strap on the pads and helmet one more time.
He said he was content to just play the role as backup in the abbreviated six-week season, but an injury to starter Chase Hix thrust Knapp back to starring for his hometown school, leading the Wildcats to a 6-0 record.
Knapp threw just four passes in the first two games but by Week 5 he was at his best, completing 30 of 39 attempts for 395 yards and five touchdowns in a 37-14 win over Canby. He finished 70 of 103 for 1,001 yards and 10 touchdowns in the shortened season.
He told
Jerry Ulmer of OSAAtoday.com that it was "heartbreaking" not being able to play for a state championship after most of the 19 seniors on Wilsonville were on a 5A quarterfinal team in 2018 as sophomores.
"I know we're a state championship-caliber team," he said. "I think we'd definitely make a run all the way to the state championship, and we'd have a good chance of winning it."
Knapp told Ulmer playing in Texas was a unique and expansive experience.
"The speed down there is insane," he said. "The competition down there was crazy. It gave me the confidence to come here and play well. I lived, ate and breathed football for four months. But once it was over, I was like, 'This is my home.' I just couldn't live there anymore. I had to come back. ... Texas taught me a lot."
Jayce Knapp played in five games in Texas during the fall before returning home to play six games for his hometown Wilsonville squad in Oregon.
File phto by Sean Roach
