FARGO – The question “is it really worth it?” That has been circulating throughout the I-29 corridor since North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota and South Dakota State had a game postponed or canceled this spring season.
Two contests for UND were impacted by COVID-19 testing within 72 hours of each other. The Fighting Hawks were going through their final practice on campus on Friday when head coach Bubba Schweigert received the news a member of the team tested positive for COVID.
“I just had to tell them that we got to stop immediately and go isolate until we know more and then we had to make the decision at that time we just couldn’t get on the plane and go play,” said Schweigert.
UND’s game with Youngstown has been rescheduled for April 17, in Youngstown, Ohio. This Saturday’s game with Missouri State is unable to be made up as the Hawks and Bears don’t share an open weekend before the postseason begins on April 24.
NDSU is following a similar script as their Missouri Valley Football Conference game against South Dakota State scheduled for this weekend has been postponed to April 17 at the Fargodome. The news broke three days after the cancelation of their contest against South Dakota.
USD and NDSU were hours from kickoff at the DakotaDome when the game was called off on Saturday.
“We have a questionnaire every morning that our players are required to fill out so I’m anticipating he was in his hotel room filled it out, said he had symptoms and so he essentially had already self-isolated because he was in his hotel room,” said NDSU head coach Matt Entz on when they found out. “At that point, we kept them there as we’re able to get the rest of the team on the buses, and then we were able to get them back to Fargo via different transportation.”
The Coyotes had their season-opener with Western Illinois pushed back to April 17 due to COVID-19 protocols within the Leathernecks team.
Indiana State opted out of playing the spring season in January and Illinois State opted out after playing four games. Illinois State head coach Brock Spack cited injuries within the team, made it difficult to play the remaining four games against SDSU, Southern Illinois, UND and Missouri State.
So to answer the question “is it really worth it?” Here’s a handful of responses from earlier in the week.
MATT ENTZ
“Yes, we’ve gotten better, we’ve gotten better as a team, we’ve gotten closer as a football team, we’ve gotten better on the field. I’d be lying to you if I said I can’t wait for the fall because I do think we have the possibility of being a really solid football team.”
JOHN STIEGELMEIER
“Let’s take two scenarios, we keep playing we luck out and we make the playoffs and we have a chance to compete for a national championship – isn’t that what you dreamed about as an athlete?”
“The other scenario is Cal Poly who’s out of players, I read their release today they’re out of players they had to shut it down or the team Montana and Montana State those players have the same dreams and they choose to not play, which is the better scenario I think it’s ours.”
“These guys are student-athletes and we’re allowing them to do that and we’re playing more players and so we are trying to limit the hits on everybody so I don’t think we have all the answers but I do think we’re doing the right thing.”
NDSU JUNIOR LINEBACKER JAMES KACZOR
“We’re grateful for every opportunity we get to practice, every opportunity that we get to play games. It’s a blessing to play this game and this last weekend is a good reminder that nothing is guaranteed especially during COVID.”
