Reading High shuts down football program; could cause Gov. Mifflin to sit out next week

Reading High has postponed its football game Friday against North County (Md.) and likely will have to cancel its Week 6 game with Gov. Mifflin after the program was suspended following a brush with COVID.

Red Knights coach Andre Doyle told MikeDragoSports.com that his team will be shut down until Oct. 1, one day before its scheduled game at Mifflin.

PIAA rules dictate that a team which is shut down for 10 days must practice at least three days before a contest.

If that timetable holds there’s no way the Red Knights will be ready, or able, in time to play Mifflin on Saturday, Oct. 2. The Mustangs likely will be idle in Week 6.

“At this point, I don’t think that’s a reality,” Doyle said of playing the Mustangs.

It’s possible that Mifflin, the top-ranked Class 5A team in the state, could find a replacement opponent but it’s unlikely many teams will want to take on that task in light of the way the Mustangs ran through Harrisburg 49-13 last week.

Doyle said it was discovered on Tuesday that a Reading High player had come in contact with someone infected by the coronavirus. That led to a quarantine of the student-athletes; they will be learning virtually during the shutdown.

Week 6 is the start of league play in Section 1 of the Berks Football League.

Mifflin’s Homecoming activities are scheduled for the Oct. 2 game vs. Reading.

Reading High (1-3) will have the option of adding games to the back end of its schedule, in Weeks 11 and 12, if it doesn’t qualify for the postseason.

Mifflin is unlikely to be in that position; barring something dramatic the Mustangs will be involved in the District 3 playoffs starting Nov. 5. It could reschedule with North County (0-3) or find a different opponent.

“We would love to try to make sure that we can get a full season in for the boys,” Doyle said, “but everything is day-to-day at this point. With more and more cancellations coming, who knows how things are going to shape up?”

The Red Knights were shut down for all of last fall, then played a four-game spring schedule.