Woodbridge, Northwood, will forfeit football games Monday

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Football coaches at Woodbridge and Northwood said Saturday that their schools will forfeit Sea View League games scheduled for Monday.

The only question is whether principals decide to cancel all games or let El Toro play at Huntington Beach in the other remaining game on the schedule. The games were postponed because of Southern California wildfires.

‘We’re trying to get our league to reconsider,’ said Rick Curtis, coach of Northwood, which is supposed to play Foothill after 10 days of inactivity. ‘We’re going to forfeit it if they don’t cancel it. No practice, no preparation, no conditioning, no nothing. We couldn’t even meet today.’

Curtis said the air quality at his school Saturday morning was worse than it was on Friday, although Air Quality Index readings Saturday at 12:30 p.m. indicated air was in the lowest, or ‘good,’ range, unlike the high readings for Friday that placed it in the ‘moderate’ range.

‘I don’t even know if we’ll be able to practice on Monday,’ Curtis said. ‘It’s unfortunate, but it’s a minor inconvenience compared to what these other people are going through. Somebody has to make a stand, and we’re making a stand.’

Rick Gibson, whose Woodbridge team is supposed to play Trabuco Hills, agreed. ‘We sat down and said this is the right thing to do,’ he said. ‘This is uncharted water. Our No. 1 priority is the kids. Is it safe to go that long without practicing, and then on game day put them in that situation. That’s one part of it. The other part is you’ve got kids who have been here four years and you’re taking a game away from them.’

- Martin Henderson