January 2021 - 37

a season, which, in a normal year, would be long since
over by then. The wait is even longer at Upper Cape Cod
Regional Technical High School in Bourne, MA, where the
hope is for a football season to begin in late February as
part of a so-called " Fall II, " or " wedge " season. Assuming
it happens, it would give Massachusetts four high school
sports seasons rather than the traditional three.
Five out of six states in New England have pushed off
football until 2021, New Hampshire is the lone exception.
For Mario Morales, who at least has the advantage
of eight seasons under his belt as coach of the Saints
in Southern California, getting back into the swing of
things shouldn't be too much of a challenge. But on Cape
Cod, Dayne Johnson is preparing for his first-ever head
coaching job at the vocational school.
Johnson, who previously coached across the Cape
Cod Canal at Old Rochester Regional in Mattapoisett.
was introduced at UCT in early March. A week later,
the school shifted to remote learning for the rest of the
school year, and he still hasn't been able to meet every
prospective player for this season's team.
" It certainly wasn't the way I wanted to begin my head
coaching career, " Johnson said. " I've been able to pass
out a few playbooks and things like that, but as far as
getting organized, there's been nothing. "
Both Morales and Johnson expressed the difficulty of
seeing teams in other parts of the country get their seasons
off without a hitch, but are also understanding of the
unprecedented circumstances which have led to the delay.
There's been no football-related activity for Johnson's
team this fall, but Morales has been able to get the
Saints together twice a week for conditioning and twice
a week for weight training - outdoors - as well as
virtual meetings. Practice was scheduled to begin for St.
Anthony on December 14 before scrimmaging on January
2 and opening its regular season a week later.
Morales isn't so much worried about his team's football
IQ upon returning, with 12 projected starters due back,
but does wonder how quickly the offensive line will get
up to game speed. Due to social distancing measures, the
offensive line hasn't been able to practice with normal splits.
" I think we're going to be a little bit behind in that
sense, but kids are so resilient, " Morales said. " They'll
learn so fast. Once we have a full practice model, I really
think we're gonna take off. But until that happens, I'm a
little concerned. "
In California, teams will participate in a 10-week
regular season without byes, followed by the playoffs,
which would culminate in championship games being
played at the end of March. Before you know it, the spring
football portion of the off-season schedule will be there.
" It's hard to tell how that's going to affect us in
any way, positively or negatively, " Morales said. " It's
something we've never been through before. "
Choose #118 online
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January 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2021
