Sheldon High basketball back in play as Elk Grove schools clear all district events
The Sheldon Huskies are officially back in the game.
After a chaotic and confusing emotional twister tied to the coronavirus since Saturday afternoon, the top-ranked boys basketball team in Northern California was officially given the green light to continue its historically great season Tuesday night with a NorCal Open Division semifinal game at Dublin. The district cleared events for Tuesday and Wednesday only. The futrue of events beyond that are still under consideration.
“We expect to have answers about other academic and athletic team events scheduled for the rest of this week by Wednesday afternoon,” the district said in a news release Tuesday afternoon.
Sheldon has a chance to become the first program to three-peat as NorCal Open champions, the highest classification in the state. The Elk Grove Unified School District on Tuesday morning announced all school activities are back on, sports or otherwise, after a thorough discussion with county health officials that concluded the student-athletes would be safe enough to continue.
Sheldon was originally scheduled to play Dublin at Cosumnes River College on Saturday but the EGUSD stalled that in announcing that all EGUSD schools and events were to cease due to the threat of coronavirus. On Sunday, medical experts and elected officials, including Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, held a news conference downtown to remind that safety is first but, as Steinberg said, “Health is first, but let’s not panic. Let’s live our lives!”
Superintendent Dave Gordon offered support for Sheldon, and then the officials got on an immediate conference call with CIF Executive Director Ron Nocetti to brain storm on how to make it all work. Nocetti has maintained that his office cannot and would not ever try to overrule a district’s decision, saying, “We just won’t do that. It’s not how we operate. We’re all trying to do the right thing.”
Sheldon coach Joey Rollings on Tuesday morning expressed to The Bee profound relief. Sheldon (27-5) has a formidable task in Dublin (24-6). The winner gets powerhouse Bishop O’Dowd on Thursday in Oakland. The CIF State finals are Saturday at Golden 1 Center, where, potentially, Sheldon may have a shot against the No. 1 team in America in Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth, which has defeated Sheldon in the past two CIF State Open Division finals.
“Our kids are ready to go,” Rollings said. “We haven’t had a practice since Friday. It’s a weird situation. You just don’t know what to expect. Hopefully, we can finish out the week, but you never know with coronavirus.”
Rolling said he’s been impressed with the resolve and leadership of his senior-dominated team.
“They’ve been great, and they’re eager to play,” Rollings said. “No one wants to end the season on a forfeit.”
The NorCal tournament still has Sheldon but it lost three other powerhouse programs tied to coronavirus concerns.
Late Monday morning, NorCal No. 1 Division I seed Riordan of San Francisco had to withdraw from the boys tournament after a student on campus tested postive for the virus.
On Monday evening, the boys team from Lincoln High of San Francisco, enjoying its best season in decades, had to withdraw from the D-IV field when the San Francisco Unified School District canceled all student events. Lincoln was to play Brookside Christian of Stockton in a NorCal final.
Defending state D-II girls champion Menlo of Atherton withdrew from the tournament Friday, hours before a rescheduled D-I quarterfinal game at Bishop O’Dowd in Oakland. This came days after the school was shut down due to a relative of a campus staff member testing positive for coronavirus.
The CIF said the state finals at Golden 1 on Friday and Saturday are still locked in place.
This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 10:37 AM.