After over 400 days, football practice begins in South Sound
It was a crummy, rainy evening in Puyallup on Monday evening. But even the grayest skies couldn’t have dampened the mood at Sparks Stadium, where the Puyallup High School football team held its first official practice of the 2020-21 school year.
Puyallup’s last football game was Nov. 23, 2019. 436 days later, the Vikings’ returning players finally put on their helmets once again.
“It feels great, man,” said a jubilant Dave Iuli, a junior four-star recruit who missed his entire sophomore season with a knee injury. “Look at this, this is Viking spirit weather, right here. The rain, we love this kind of stuff. It feels great to be back.”
Puyallup was just one of many programs across Pierce and Thurston counties that returned to action on Monday. The first day of practice for traditional fall sports was Monday for many schools in the area after the counties moved into Phase 2 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Healthy Washington plan.
Players lined up outside the gates of Sparks Stadium, passing temperature checks before they were permitted onto the practice field. Once on the field, players wore masks during practice, like they’ll have to do in games, once the season begins. There was a hand sanitizing station near the bleachers.
The energy from the players and coaches on the field was palpable, the byproduct of over a year of pent up energy and wondering if this day would ever come. Sports are an integral part of the fabric of American society, marking the passing of seasons and bringing communities together. A chance to compete together, to bond together, to make memories together.
It’s worth wondering if collectively, people had taken high school sports for granted before the pandemic. At Puyallup’s football practice on Monday, there was a sense of joy that came from simply being on the field together, next to friends. Especially for the seniors on the team.
“We don’t care about having to take all the precautions, we don’t care about any of that,” said senior quarterback Luke Holcomb. “We’re just blessed to have a senior year, be able to play six or seven games. We’re just blessed to have the opportunity.”
Puyallup begins its season with a jamboree game against Bellarmine on Feb. 13. The Vikings open their season with a road game against Bethel on Feb. 19. There will be no state tournament. If there is a postseason, it will be brief. There could be covid interruptions or cancellations. But if it’s a league-only season and a chance to play for a championship in the Class 4A South Puget Sound League, Puyallup’s players and coaching staff will happily take it.
“We’re all at the point where we just want to play football,” said Puyallup coach Gary Jeffers. “All the other dressings of the season, we might have to do without this year.”
Puyallup, along with many schools around the South Sound, have been holding conditioning sessions since the fall for their athletes in small groups, outdoors. But after so long away from organized football, it’s worth wondering how long it will take for teams to get up to speed not only from a fitness standpoint, but schematically, as well.
“Hopefully, we’re ready to go by Feb. 19, when we play Bethel,” Jeffers said. “We’re fortunate we’re returning a fairly veteran group on offense. I think the learning should be fairly minimal. They’ve all played before. So that will certainly help us.”
Holcomb isn’t sure what the season will look like, how smoothly it will go. But he said the expectation is the same, whether it’s in the midst of a pandemic or not.
“We just want to win every single game that we have,” he said. “We’re coming with that mindset, no matter how many games we get, we want to win them all.”
Iuli is particularly antsy to get back onto the field and play in live games, after missing his sophomore year, and a chance to play a fall football season. He’s nearly headed into his senior year, now, and hasn’t played football since he was a freshman.
“Missing sophomore season was a big letdown and last year, missing a (fall) season,” he said. “But it just gave me more time to prepare and come back stronger. I feel like being gone for two and a half years from the sport that I love makes me even hungrier. And it even makes my brothers even hungrier. I’m definitely going to go out there, first game, second game, any game. I’m going to go out there and put on a show.”
All that time, he said he always kept the faith. And now, high school football is back.
“Being gone from the field, I never lost hope,” he said. “It’s God’s plan. It’s just a blessing and an opportunity to be out here.”
This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 7:28 PM.
