Jordan Bass, Prairie City volleyball head coach.

PRAIRIE CITY — Prairie City High School tentatively postponed its volleyball and football games this past weekend to Oct. 22.

Billy Colson, Prairie City’s athletic director, and the principal told the Eagle that the school’s Friday, Sept. 24, football game against Joseph was canceled due to scheduling conflicts and COVID-19 concerns on Joseph’s end.

Colson added that Prairie City also had to postpone its Friday volleyball game against Elgin due to an FFA event that would have taken most of its team.

Nick Thompson, Prairie City’s football coach, told the Eagle that his team is no stranger to cancellations, postponements or game delays.

In addition to COVID cancellations, the team had a nearly three-hour delay before its Sept. 17 game against South Wasco due to a shortage of referees.

According to Thompson, the team has not had to quarantine this season. However, he noted the team lost its entire spring season due to COVID-19.

This season, Thompson said he is trying to remind his players that what they do off the field directly impacts the team on the field — now, more than ever.

He said the analogy he likes to use with the squad is that if they had owned a nice sports car, they would want to use the best fuel to get the best performance out of the vehicle. Their bodies, he said, should be no different.

“I’ve been trying to get these kids to realize that their body is a machine,” he said, “and how they treat them is how they are going to perform.”

He said they must be hearing his message because they have not had anyone get sick so far.

In addition to COVID cancellations, Thompson said the league is dealing with a referee shortage, which sometimes makes it challenging to keep players motivated.

“It’s been a real challenge trying to keep the kids motivated week to week when you know they’re starting to figure out that there may or may not be a game.”

He said the team has filled the time with watching film, conditioning in Prairie City’s recently renovated gym and doing team-building activities. In many cases, he added, the team has taken the initiative to put together activities themselves.

Last week, Thompson said, the team scheduled a team fishing trip. Earlier this month, he said the crew unloaded the moving truck of a family that recently moved to Prairie City. Thompson said it took six hours to load the truck and less than an hour for the Panthers to unload.

“I’m pretty thankful,” Thompson said. “We’ve got a good group of guys.”

Prairie City volleyball team not taking anything for granted

Jordan Bass, Prairie City’s volleyball coach, said her team has a collective sense of gratitude for every chance they get to play and practice in the gym together, knowing there is always the possibility of COVID-19 cancellations.

“I think there is this feeling of being happy to be together and not taking any competition or new practice that we get for granted,” she said. “Which, maybe before COVID, it was easier to do sometimes.”