Mission Prep was one of the few high school football allowed to practice on the Central Coast, but that came to an end on Tuesday as the Royals were instructed by SLO County to stop all team activities.
“It’s very frustrating," Mission Prep head football coach David Schuster said in a statement. We operated perfectly, did everything right, kids were so pumped to be out there. We told the county we would obviously comply but we’ve asked them to re-consider the decision."
As for public schools in Santa Maria, they’re still in the zoom meeting phase. Santa Maria High, Righetti, and Pioneer Valley are all following CIF guidelines at this point, which will allow these teams to move on to the next phase starting Monday.
“The three high schools will be going in sessions from 9 in the morning until about 6 in the evening," Pioneer Valley Athletic Director Jeff Monteiro said. "We can split up our athletes and that way we don’t have any large amounts where we break the social distancing."
This phase will last for about two weeks as players become accustomed to the new normal, but for teams in the Lucia Mar district, all team activity proposals have been rejected.
“It’s definitely a bummer," Arroyo Grande Athletic Director Stephen Field said. "We want to get out there, and get those kids out there on the field of competition."
As of now, the St. Joseph high school football team is continuing to hold practices on campus.
