50 days ago
NEVADA COUNTY, CA - No one at Bear River High School had ever heard of a football game being postponed by illness until it happened to them.
More than half of the 30-man varsity roster at Bear River was home with a fever Friday, hours before the scheduled start of the big game with archrival Colfax High School.
"We were decimated," said Bear River Athletic Director Duwaine Ganskie. "By the end of the day, we had 16 kids that had gone home."
Ganskie said it would have been risky to try to field a team, knowing that some would insist on playing despite being ill. After some grumbling at Colfax High School, principals of both schools agreed to reschedule the game for Monday.
"If I were in their position, I would have been initially disgruntled as well," Ganskie said. He applauded the good sportsmanship that prevailed.
After a weekend of rest, the Bear River varsity team was back on the practice field Monday afternoon running last-minute drills before the visiting team arrived.
Ganskie said all signs point to the H1N1 virus as the likely cause of the team's illness, but said the official cause would never be known because Nevada County no longer conducts routine testing for H1N1 flu.
by George Warren, GWarren@news10.net
KXTV/News10
