High school football is back in southwest Illinois. Here’s what to know before you go
High school football is set to start in Illinois on Friday, after COVID-19 pushed back the start date more than once.
The season is delayed and will be abbreviated. The Friday Night Lights atmosphere will be compromised in some ways too, with socially distanced fans and limited performances from marching bands and cheer and dance squads.
Here’s what fans should know before they try to catch a game.
Q: Are fans allowed?
Spectators will be allowed, but tickets will be limited and largely dispersed through the schools. Masks are required.
Belleville West Athletic Director Lee Meyer said that within the Southwestern Conference, the schools agreed that each participant on the home team’s roster will get up to four tickets to give out, and the visiting team will have 150 tickets.
Guidance from the state limits stadiums at 20% capacity, but stadiums within the conference vary. Meyer said that’s how the Southwestern Conference — which includes Alton, Belleville East, Belleville West, Collinsville, East St. Louis, Edwardsville and O’Fallon — came up with its guidelines.
Tickets won’t be available at the gate of Southwestern Conference games. Only fans who were given a ticket by a player or the school will be able to get in.
East St. Louis School District 189 is encouraging students and other fans to stream Flyers games through NFHS Network, a service that streams high school sports, to limit the number of people at games. Director of Communications Sydney Stigge-Kaufman said the district was asking the community to help keep the players safe.
Althoff Catholic, a member of the South Seven Conference, is prioritizing parents, students and school faculty and staff in distributing tickets. For home games, the opposing team will have 150 tickets, and 350 will be allotted for Crusaders fans; if there are extras, general admission tickets would be available, Athletic Director Kathy Wuller said.
Spectators will have to sign in with their contact information, in case contact tracing becomes necessary.
Q: Will there be a student section?
While some students may be able to attend, the entire student body won’t be able to attend any games.
Meyer suspects most of the tickets will go to the families of the players, but athletes are allowed to give their tickets to other students or friends.
“Unfortunately, we’re not able to give them to the student body, at any of the schools,” Meyer said. “As long as anybody has a ticket, they will get in. If a player wants to give their tickets to other students, that’s OK.”
Althoff Catholic will have a more traditional student section, albeit with social distancing. Families in the same household will be able to sit together.
Q: Will cheerleaders and the marching band be able to perform?
In many cases, cheerleaders and marching bands will still have a presence at football games, but it won’t be the same as previous years.
The Belleville West band will still play the National Anthem, Meyer said, but it will be a smaller group. It won’t perform a halftime show.
The East St. Louis band will play for home games, but located separately from all fans, Stigge-Kaufman said. Cheerleaders aren’t allowed to yell, but will hold signs instead.
Q: What does the rest of the season look like?
The spring football season will be six weeks long, and begins this weekend. The truncated season won’t have state finals, and most teams across the state will stick to playing within their conference to limit travel.
Wuller said that after the year high school athletes have had, she’s happy to be able to watch them play at all.
“I’m excited for the kids just to get to play. They’ve been waiting for such a long time,” she said. “It’s been a roller coaster. For athletic directors it’s been a nightmare, there’s no doubt about it.”
This story was originally published March 18, 2021 at 7:00 AM.