SMC Football Players Test Positive For COVID, Game Against West LA Postponed
SMC's Game Against West LA College Has Been Postponed Because Of COVID Concerns
The team warms up for the second half. The Corsairs fell to 1-2 after loosing to Pasadena City College 43-22 at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California on September 19, 2021.
(Maxim Elramsisy | The Corsair)
Santa Monica College's (SMC) football team's first scheduled matchup with West LA College has been postponed after six players tested positive for COVID-19. After notifying the LA County Health Department, which is a mandatory procedure after multiple positive tests, the program determined that some but not all of the cases were independently contracted off campus. It is currently unclear if any of the infected players were vaccinated for COVID-19.
The game between the Corsairs and the West LA Wildcats was originally set to take place on Saturday, October 2nd at 1 p.m on the Corsair Field.
Kelly Ledwith, Head Coach of the Corsairs, had this to say regarding the cancelation of the game: “I was disappointed for our guys, they had a good week of practice up through Wednesday. Playing West LA was going to be a good game for us."
Some of the players for SMC teamed with players for West LA in the past, and highly anticipated playing against a close, historical rival.
Ledwith also explained the team's exposure to COVID and the protocols that they have followed throughout the season, “This is actually the first time we had a positive test, and we have been back since March." said Ledwith.
He described the program's COVID testing protocols as stringent, noting that the team has to test within 72 hours of a game, and that every student-athlete who is not fully vaccinated must be tested when arriving to campus.
“Our athletic staff did a great job. They worked with the school. They even reached out to [the] LA County Health Department to make sure we were doing things the right way. LA county said that they liked our plan.” said Ledwith.
"We tested on Wednesday and we didn't have any contact with Orange Coast prior to Saturday afternoon. There is no cross over there. If we would have gotten it from them, they would have had positive tests, so their next game [would've been] canceled."
SMC’s previous matchup was with Orange Coast College and occurred on Saturday, Sept. 25. Orange Coast had just come off a two-week layoff because of COVID before playing SMC. “We played them more than two weeks after their positive test came back," said Ledwith.
Orange Coast played Moorpark College the following week, so Ledwith believes that the team's outbreak resulted from something that developed after the game against Orange Coast.
No make-up date for the game between SMC and West LA has been determined yet. The Corsairs' next scheduled game is an away matchup against Moorpark College on Saturday Oct. 16 at 6 p.m.
