Riverside football team has 19 players ineligible to play in 2023 season opener
Buddy Wood has coached varsity games at Riverside High School short-handed before, but he understood the circumstances.
This time, he doesn't.
After enduring a training camp interrupted by wildfires so severe and damaging that Spokane County declared a state of emergency, Wood not only had to cancel a practice - some of his players missed time to tend to family emergencies.
Due to a WIAA rule that requires players getting in 12 practices before the start of football season, those players will miss Riverside's season-opening non-league game Friday night against St. Maries, an Idaho school.
Wood said the school appealed to the WIAA for a waiver for those 19 players, including a pair of two-way varsity starters, but found out Thursday it had been denied.
"Twelve practice days is the rule," Wood said. "But this is a tough situation, and you try and handle it the best you can. It's upsetting.
"If there was an emergency situation, I would think this would be it."
The Class 1A program located in Chattaroy, approximately 20 miles north of Spokane, had practice scheduled Aug. 19 - a Saturday - but immediately canceled it after the local Red Cross moved in to utilize the school gymnasium as a community shelter for displaced residents.
In fact, Wood said some of those players were Red Cross volunteers that day, handing out water and other supplies.
Over the next few days, some players missed team practices so they could "defend their homes and dig trenches" as the wildfire continued to do damage to nearly 20,000 acres of land in the county.
Knowing a handful of players were not going to get in enough practices to be eligible for the first game, school administrators contacted the WIAA about a rule waiver.
"The way the rule in the (WIAA) handbook is written, if an entire team is unable to practice ... an accommodation can be made," said Andy Barnes, WIAA assistant executive director. "But if only a few kids aren't able to make practice - by rule, we're not able to make a waiver."
WIAA officials made the suggestion to reschedule the game for Saturday so all 55 players would be eligible. Wood said that was not an option, given all the community appropriations being made.
"It's more than a football game - it is a community healing event," said Wood, who noted that a fundraiser is set up to raise money for residents in need (as well as game tickets and food being free of charge).
-- Todd Milles | todd@scorebooklive.com | @sblivewa
