The Mississippi Valley State football team's spring season came to an unfortunately fitting end on Wednesday morning.
The Delta Devils (1-3) started their year with a COVID-19 postponement, and now they'll end their 2021 campaign with a pair of games canceled due to the virus.
Last Saturday's matchup was called off due to an outbreak in the Texas Southern program. This weekend's season finale against Southwestern Athletic Conference East champion Alabama A&M was canceled due to COVID-19 issues within MVSU's program.
It marks the third Delta Devils game impacted by COVID-19 and the 11th total in the SWAC this season. MVSU played just three games out of its six-game schedule, picking up its lone win via forfeit from Alcorn State, which opted out of the spring season.
“I want to commend my student athletes for persevering through this COVID season,” MVSU athletic director Dianthia Ford-Kee said. “I want my student athletes to know how proud I am of them for persevering through this difficult time in our country trying to manage COVID.
“I hope that they’re better people for it and that next fall will give them an outlook that they have an opportunity to be a game-changer in the SWAC.”
On Tuesday, Jackson State's season finale against Prairie View A&M was also canceled due to COVID-19 protocols and contact tracing within the Tigers' program.
“I am not confident that we won’t run into COVID pauses when we return to play in the fall,” Ford-Kee said. “We’re still working through COVID as a nation, and we’re going to have to prepare for the possibility of shutdowns.
“Especially with new variants of COVID, we’re not sure how it’s going to affect our country,” she added. “But I hope we can return to play with a better level of normalcy than we had this year.”
nContact Riley Overend at 581-7237 or roverend@gw-commonwealth.com. Follow @OverendOut on Twitter.
