CIF resumes practice, games

The CIF San Diego Section, the governing body of high school athletics in San Diego and Imperial Counties, resumed practices and games as of October 30.

The CIF made the announcement October 26 but noted that games the week of October 30 through November 3 would be contingent upon adequate air quality and willingness of the school districts whose teams were scheduled to participate. The games between October 22 and October 27 were cancelled.

“Nothing from the 22nd through last Saturday will be made up,” said CIF commissioner Dennis Ackerman. “It would just make a mess of the schedule and availability of officials.”

The cancellation of the October 22-27 contests also covered the Imperial County schools and matches played by San Diego Section schools outside the section. “We felt it was the fairest thing to do for everybody,” Ackerman said. “It was the right thing to do. So many people were affected by this fire.”

Ackerman lives on the border of Poway and Rancho Bernardo but did not have to evacuate his house, although no access to his home was available during the early portion of the Witch Fire. Assistant CIF commissioner Bill McLaughlin, who lives in Ramona, was evacuated but did not lose his home.

The elimination of the October 22-27 events ended the girls tennis regular season a week early. The playoff seeding and selection meeting scheduled for October 25 was moved to October 29.

If air quality or school district decisions cause cancellations of the games between October 30 and November 3, varsity games can be made up contingent upon the availability of officials. No cancelled junior varsity or freshman competitions from that week will be made up.

The makeup allowance for October 30 through November 3 games does not allow for extension of the regular season. Boys water polo, girls volleyball, and girls golf will end their regular seasons November 3.

The girls golf CIF championship tournament is scheduled for November 7-8 in Warner Springs, although Ackerman has yet to hear whether that course suffered damage from the Poomacha Fire.

Boys and girls cross-country will have league meets the week of November 5-10; the Morley Field site of the CIF meet November 17 was unaffected by the fires.

The girls field hockey regular season ends November 7 and football’s regular season concludes November 9.

Although some swimming pools might not be ready for water polo, the Fallbrook High School swimming pool was suitable for an October 30 game. Tomorrow’s water polo game between Fallbrook and Carlsbad was moved from Fallbrook High School to Carlsbad High School for reasons unrelated to the fire; both teams preferred that the showdown be played in an all-deep pool rather than in Fallbrook’s shallow-deep pool.