Flint Creek illness forces cancellation of Plains game

By CHUCK BANDEL

Valley Press

In the end, Covid-19 won another game.

This time the victims were players, coaches and fans from both Plains and Philipsburg/Drummond (Granite County co-op known as Flint Creek) as the game was cancelled Friday afternoon when a player from Philipsburg came to school with flu/Covid-like symptoms.

A Valley Press reporter who had journeyed to Philipsburg for the game got the news from a member of the Flint Creek coaching staff who was leaving the building about an hour before the scheduled 7 p.m. start.

“One of our guys got sick, we think it’s the flu or Covid,” the coach said. “We had to shut it down.”

When asked how his team was shaping up this year, the obviously dejected coach replied, “I think we would be okay, but now with this I don’t know.” Flint Creek won back-to-back eight-man state titles in 2017 and 2018.

Earlier in the week, Plains Schools Superintendent Thom Chisholm made an observation which turned out to be true.

When discussing Plains’ Covid-related policy limiting fan attendance at home games to a small number of players’ family members, Chisholm mused that he was concerned the Covid policies in place at Philipsburg may be too lax.

The Horsemen will try again this Friday when they take on Troy in a 7 p.m. home game.