Mt. Pleasant masks up for practice

MT. PLEASANT - It sounds like a broken record by now, but life in the coronavirus-stricken world is a lot different from it once was, and local fall sports teams are having to learn how to stay safe while they conduct their preseason activities. The Mt. Pleasant football team is no different.

The Panther football team has implemented a variety of new precautionary measures, including, but not limited to, the use of masks during practice.

'As soon as we enter Maple leaf, our masks have to be up,” says senior wide receiver Chase Williamson. 'In the locker rooms, it's always on. The only time we can take it off is in the locker room if we're six feet away from each other, or if we're with our position group, and we're still six feet away.”

While the players practice in their position groups, coaches who surround are all in masks, with players and coaches keeping each other accountable for keeping things as distanced as possible. During water breaks, players grab their individual bottles, a stark contrast from previous years, where players drank out of the same stream.

'We sanitize balls after practice,” says senior quarterback Jack Johnson. 'We wear masks when coach tells us to, and you can only use the water fountains to fill up your bottle.”

It's different for the Panther players, but the crew was in high spirits during an evening practice last week.

'It was pretty uncomfortable, but we got used to it pretty quickly, and during the summer in the weight room, we had to wear them too,” says senior offensive lineman Cooper Pullis. 'It's just an adjustment, but nothing we can't handle.”

The Iowa High School football season was up in the air over the summer and another seed of doubt was planted when the local college conferences moved their seasons to the spring, but teams around Iowa plan on completing a full season.

When practice ended on Thursday, players didn't huddle up. Head coach Shawn Striegel shouted for players to keep apart, a command echoed by his assistant coaches. Players dispersed from the field, spacing out as they did so.

'It's definitely different,” Johnson says. 'But we can all change if that means we can play our season.”