Jonathan Alder running back Will Heisler (26) picks up yardage against London. The Pioneers are going through a bye week before opening the Division III state playoffs on Friday, Oct. 16. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
The Jonathan Alder Pioneers are going through a rare week without a football game.
The Pioneers earned a first-round bye for the upcoming Division III state playoffs.
Under normal circumstances, a week without a game would not happen during the post-season.
The top eight teams in each region would have earned a playoff berth and the top four squads would have hosted an opening-round contest.
COVID-19, however, threw the 2020 campaign for a huge loop.
Teams throughout Ohio played a six-week regular season schedule, which began in late August.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association, for the first time, opened the playoffs to each team in the state.
Some programs opted out of the post-season, while most decided to play.
Regions throughout all the divisions that had multiples of four teams did not have first-round byes.
Alder’s Region 11 (with 23 teams) did not have participants in the multiples of four.
Therefore, higher-seeded teams such as JA (No. 4) earned a first-round bye.
Pioneer coach Brett Glass said this week has definitely had a different feeling for his undefeated (6-0) team.
“It’s sort of relaxing, but we’re still not used to this,” he said. “I called several other coaches who have first-round byes to get a sense of how they’re conducting practices this week.”
The Pioneers aren’t staying on the field as long each day, but are still focusing on the task at hand.
“We’re having shorter practice sessions this week, but we’re still getting in our work,” said Glass.
The Pioneer coach said the bye week is being used to get players who are suffering from some bumps and bruises healthy before the post-season begins.
The team is also shoring up some areas that concern its boss.
“We’re working on ourselves,” said Glass. “We’re fixing some little things.
“We’ve got to work a little bit on our pass coverage,” he said. “We also have given up two kickoff returns for touchdowns this season, so we have to work on our coverage there as well.
“We’re using this week like the preseason,” he said. “We’re tweaking things here and there.”
Glass said there is a chance he’ll give the entire team the day off on Friday.
“We’d like to do that in order to save their legs,” he said.
The Pioneers have dominated most of their opponents en route to a perfect regular-season record.
They went unbeaten during the regular campaign for a second consecutive season.
Their victory over London last Friday also allowed them to defend their 2019 Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail Division championship.
Does a bye week put a crimp on such momentum?
“I worry about that a little bit,” admitted Glass. “However, we’ve got a veteran team that has played a great deal of football.
“I don’t see the bye presenting us with a lot of issues.”
Glass said he knows of coaches with a playoff bye who have tried to schedule a game for this Friday.
He, however, feels the Pioneers needed a Friday night off, instead of playing another game.
The Pioneers will open the post-season at home on Friday, Oct. 16 against the winner of this week’s Zanesville-Buckeye Valley game.