Honor Bowl cancels 2020 event at James Logan amidst COVID-19 concerns

NorCal event featured six North Coast Section programs, including 2020 state champion Clayton Valley Charter.

If James Logan is able to host Monte Vista on the football field on Sept. 11, it won’t be as part of the 2020 Honor Bowl.

Organizers of the nonprofit on Tuesday canceled the 11th annual event — five games in Union City, five more in San Diego — amidst COVID-19 concerns.

“It was something that we actually saw on the horizon,” said James Logan coach Ricky Rodriguez, who is still waiting for the green light to open summer conditioning workouts. “I’m glad that it happened earlier than later.”

Four other North Coast Section football teams agreed to participate in the Honor Bowl on Sept. 11-12:

• Campolindo vs. Sutter;

• Acalanes vs. Clovis East;

• Liberty (2019 state champion) vs. Del Oro of Loomis;

• Clayton Valley Charter (2020 state champion) vs. Eastside Catholic of Sammamish, Washington.

The first domino to fall came when Eastside Catholic, located in a suburb east of Seattle, bowed out in May, according to Rodriguez.

Not long after, Clovis East voiced concerns about the six-hour round-trip bus ride to Union City.

The SoCal slate of games scheduled for Sept. 4-5 included teams from Arizona, Maryland and Nevada.

“About a month and a half ago I started getting calls from teams claiming that they were not being able to travel out of the area,” said Rick Sutter, a co-founder and director of operations for The Honor Group.

The wait-and-see approach took a turn for the worse on Friday when the California Interscholastic Federation announced a July 20 deadline to determine if fall sports will be played as scheduled.

Sutter proceeded to send an email to CIF executive commissioner Ron Nocetti and discussed options for the football season along with Mark Soto, co-founder and executive director of The Honor Group.

Without assurance of fans in the stands, the non-profit not only found itself in a financial risk, but its mission and motto that The Honor Bowl is “more than just a football game” could fall on deaf ears.

“Mark and I did not want to wait until July 20th to find out that the CIF were going to say things that we already know,” Sutter said. “We’re a non-profit, we volunteer our time, we don’t make any money from this ourselves, and the last thing we want to do is try to hold a truncated event and know that we don’t succeed and have the impact that we try to make year after year.”

While working on a draft for cancellation of the 2020 Honor Bowl, news broke on Monday that De La Salle would not travel to Texas for its season opener on ESPN against North Shore in Houston.

That sealed the deal.

“We knew that we were doing the right thing,” Sutter said. “It’s sadness to all of us that there’s such a cause and effect of what’s been going on due to COVID-19.”

ANNOUNCEMENT: This is a sad day for the students, coaches, veterans and communities that have blessed us over the years. We wish you all the best and will be back in 2021. To learn more click here: https://t.co/nXxnYFu8bK pic.twitter.com/e2WkDG259n

— THE HONOR BOWL (@honorgroup) June 16, 2020

James Logan stills plans to play Monte Vista on the same date.

Liberty coach Ryan Partridge is in contact with Del Oro in an attempt to secure a site and time for their game, according to Rodriguez.

Clayton Valley Charter is left scrambling after losing games against teams from Nevada and Washington.

“Things are happening and they’re fluid,” Sutter said. “And I know that Ron and the rest of the commissioners are going to do what’s right and be cautious, but also understand that we need this. We need sports, we need school.”

He added: “We’re all hoping for the best, but at the same time don’t know what the future looks like.”