The Baboquivari Unified School District has instituted a shutdown of its schools because of positive COVID-19 cases at its Indian Oasis Elementary School, and the move to only remote learning for 10 days of all schools has forced the suspension of the high school’s football practice until at least Aug. 23.
Baboquivari, on the Tohono O’Odham reservation in Sells, was scheduled to play its season opener Aug. 27 at home against 1A South rival St. David, but that game will be postponed if the Warriors can not return to practice until Aug. 23, head coach Pete Delgado said.
Baboquivari, which plays eight-man football, canceled its season last year because of the pandemic.
Delgado started to make strides within the program in 2019 in his first season, coaching the Warriors to a 4-4 record, only the second non-losing season for the school in the last 14 years.
“This is a fluid situation but we are trying to look at all options to keep athletics going for the fall,” said Delgado (the school also has boys and girls cross country and volleyball in the fall). “We had 20-plus guys show up for (football) practice and almost all of them vaccinated. They were really excited to get back on the field. So this has been hard on them.”
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District
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