Kell varsity and junior varsity football games cancelled

The varsity and junior varsity football teams for Kell High School will not be playing this week.

Charity Sinegal, the president of the Kell Touchdown Club, said in a message posted to a Facebook page on Wednesday that the games will not be played “in order to make certain all necessary precautions are being made to keep players, staff, and families safe.”

She didn’t specifically mention if the cancellations were related to COVID-19 and said practice will resume next Monday, Oct. 12.

A spokeswoman for Cobb and Douglas Public Health she could not confirm if there were COVID cases involved, citing health privacy laws. “If someone tests positive or is a close contact of someone that tests positive, they will be notified,” she said.

East Cobb News got the following statement from a Cobb County School District spokesman:

“The Kell-Kennesaw Mountain game was cancelled due to COVID protocols and contact tracing within the Kell program. Neither team has rescheduled with anyone at this time.”

This marks the second time this season that Kell’s varsity team has had a game cancelled. The Longhorns were to have played Hillgrove in September, but someone with the west Cobb school’s program tested positive for COVID-19.

Friday’s game against Kennesaw Mountain was to have been a league matchup in Region 6-AAAAAA. The Longhorns are 1-2 and are scheduled to play at home next Friday, Oct. 16, against South Cobb on Senior Night.

Wheeler’s football season opener against North Atlanta was cancelled in September when Atlanta Public Schools halted football activities for its high schools. Instead, the Wildcats played their first game at Marietta, losing to the defending Class 7A state champions.

The Cobb County School District has been updating COVID cases every Friday, and this week indicated that 287 students or staff members have tested positive since July 1. That includes anyone involved with sports and other extracurricular activities.

The high school football season in Georgia was delayed until mid-September, while athletes in volleyball, softball and cross country have been competing as scheduled.

On Friday, the Walton football team will play at Roswell, Pope is at South Cobb and Lassiter is at Wheeler. Sprayberry is idle.