SALT LAKE CITY — The marquee showdown this Friday between Timpview and Orem, a rematch of last year’s 5A state championship, has been canceled, Timpview principal Fidel Montero confirmed.
Montero said that a player on Timpview tested positive last week. After speaking with the county health department, Montero said Friday’s game is being canceled out of an “abundance of caution” as his team quarantines.
Timpview’s game next Thursday against Alta might get pushed back a week as both teams have a bye the final week of the regular season.
“As you can imagine, our kids were completely bummed out because of the rivalry we have with Orem. A lot of the student-athletes know each other and they’re friends and they wanted to compete,” said Montero.
“Like I told our team, we’re fortunate to be playing football right now in the fall and we’re fortunate to still be involved with school, even if it’s part time. If anything, this was a good reminder to all of us that we’re playing during a very vulnerable time and that we need to take care of ourselves and take care of each other.”
For Orem, the cancellation means this Friday will be the third straight week it won’t have a game. Orem interim coach Gabe Sewell took to Twitter immediately after the news looking for a game:
🚨OREM TIGERS IS LOOKING FOR A GAME TOMORROW. WE ARE WILLING TO PLAY ANY TEAM IN UTAH AND TRAVEL AS WELL. REALLY TRYING TO FIND A GAME FOR MY BOYS. LET ME KNOW. @MooseB90 @utahpreprag @DNewsRewind @Jordan_Gomez11
— Gabriel Sewell, Sr.🇦🇸 (@gsewell_sr) October 1, 2020
The Orem-Timpview game is one of 10 originally scheduled games that has been canceled this week. So far this week, Mountain Ridge-Maple Mountain, Murray-Brighton, Gunnison Valley-Providence Hall, Rich-Enterprise and Kearns-Granger have been canceled.
Last week, Layton, Copper Hills, Viewmont and Skyline all had positive COVID-19 tests that forced the cancellation of two weeks of games.
Additions to this week’s schedule from the cancellations so far are Bountiful at Fremont and Brighton at Jordan.
The Highland-Skyline game that was scheduled for this Friday is being bumped back to Monday at 7 p.m. at Skyline.