CHARLOTTESVILLE — The Eastern Hancock boys basketball team opened the 2020-21 season with a thrilling 68-59 overtime win at Adams Central last week.
Unfortunately, the Royals’ victory came at a cost.
This past Friday, two days after the game’s conclusion, Eastern Hancock head coach and athletics director Aaron Spaulding was notified that Adams Central’s basketball program had a varsity player test positive for COVID-19.
The unexpected news has consequently placed nearly the entire Royals boys varsity team in contact tracing quarantine for 14 days.
“We played last Wednesday night at Adams Central, and got a call Friday morning that one of the kids we played had tested positive,” Spaulding said. “We don’t have any positive cases right now. It’s just quarantine.”
In accordance to state and local COVID-19 pandemic health and safety guidelines, Spaulding immediately contacted Eastern Hancock County Community School Corporation superintendent David Pfaff, other school administrators and the Hancock County Health Department.
“The ruling they gave us was if at any point a player was exposed for 15 or more minutes on Wednesday, then they would have to quarantine,” Spaulding said. “So, that took our entire starting five out. We’re left with just four full-time varsity kids. We’ll obviously have to wait a little bit until we play again.”
The Royals’ players that were within close proximity of the student-athlete that tested positive will be held out of practices and contests until Dec. 10, Spaulding said.
The Royals originally had a varsity game scheduled at New Palestine High School this Friday. That contest has been postponed without a makeup date.
Eastern Hancock had to postpone and reschedule two other basketball games within the quarantine time frame and will resume competition on Dec. 12 at home against Tri-Central at 7:30 p.m.
“The kids can come back on Dec. 10,” Spaulding said. “We’ll get a couple of practices in and then play that Saturday.”
The New Palestine game, a non-conference contest, could be rescheduled for a later date. The Royals’ game against Mid-Eastern Conference foe Wes-Del that was set for Saturday, Dec. 5 has been moved to Wednesday, Dec. 30.
Their game at Northeastern on Friday, Dec. 11 has not be rescheduled, but Eastern Hancock’s MEC contest at home against Randolph Southern has been moved from Saturday, Dec. 12 to Saturday, Dec. 26.
The Royals’ game at Centerville, which was postponed earlier this year due to contact tracing quarantines for the Bulldogs, has been rescheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 23.
The EH varsity team’s contact tracing quarantine hasn’t impacted the program’s junior varsity or freshmen seasons or their ability to compete.
“For this Friday, we invited New Castle’s freshmen to play at our place because they can still play our JV. Our freshmen have a game on Thursday,” Spaulding said. “We made sure everybody stayed separate, so everybody can still play and one team doesn’t take everybody out.”
In the interim, the program’s quarantined players will condition on their own before resuming practicing later this month.
For a few players, including Spaulding’s sons Silas and Jacob, both sophomores, contact tracing quarantine has become their new normal.
The twins and another current Royals’ player had to self-quarantine due to trace contacting this past October.
“This is both a personal frustration as a coach and parental because my boys, my twins, have been quarantined now for a second time in the last six weeks,” Spaulding said. “They’ve not been sick yet, but it is what it is and the times we’re living in. We are living by the rules and working within them to do the best we can for the kids.”
