LRS vs Kettle Falls game cancelled

KETTLE FALLS – Last Thursday night’s high school football game between Lind-Ritzville/Sprague and Kettle Falls canceled due to COVID-19 issues at Kettle Falls.

“Our kids were disappointed obviously. We were ready to play and needed to play,” Lind-Ritzville Coach Greg Whitmore said, after being reached by email, “The lesson is that ‘life happens and we can only control what we can control.’ We focused on getting better during practice.”

The Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association adopted rule 17.30.0 as part of its COVID-19 policy. That rules states, “…any contest that is not completed due to situations that could be deemed hazardous to participants or spectators when related to COVID-19 mandates, may result in a no contest unless leagues determine otherwise.”

When asked about the possibility of a no contest, and potential impact on standing and seeding in the post season, Whitmore said, “We will do all we can to reschedule the game. We don’t want any no contests on our league record if we can help it.”

This is not the first high school game to be canceled in the region.

Last week, football games were canceled for St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse and Lewis and Clark at Eastmont.

And on Sept. 10, games between Colville and Sandpoint, Idaho; Mead and Mount Spokane, Medical Lake against Rogers (Spokane), East Valley (Spokane) versus Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) and Coeur d’Alene versus West Valley (Yakima) were all canceled.

Coeur d’Alene and Mount Spokane tried to schedule a game after their original games were canceled, but that game was also called off due to COVID-19 issues.