Wittenberg returns to football practices, hopes for spring season

“Ohio high school football is tough to beat,” Fincham said. “Even though the stands are limited in capacity, it’s still a daggone good atmosphere to be out on Friday nights and see the sun set and the fans and the cheerleaders and the moms and dads and the young guys cashing in on an opportunity.”

Although Wittenberg isn’t playing fall football for the first time since 1944, the goal remains to play in the spring. The North Coast Athletic Conference has not made an official announcement about a spring season. Fincham speculates that it would be a five-game season that would start in April.

Fincham wants to give his seniors a chance to play one more time if they choose not to return for the 2021 season.

“If you play five games with the rule the NCAA has given us, nobody loses a year of eligibility,” Fincham said. “It’s going to be a challenge facility wise for all the D-III schools to be able to hold spring sports and fall sports at the same time. so having a prolonged season, playing 10 games, means you’re out there playing in March, which means you’re practicing in February. Most of us won’t be playing in Lucas Oil Stadium. We’ll be out there in earmuffs with gloves on. It would certainly be a challenge."

The NCAC could do something similar to what the Ohio Athletic Conference plans. In August, it announced it would split into two divisions in 2021 with each team playing a four-game schedule within the division starting March 12 and then one more game against the other division. The first-place teams will play for the OAC championship.

Even though Wittenberg doesn’t know for sure what a spring season will look like, it has begun preparation for that season. It returned to practice this week as did other programs at Wittenberg. They started in phase one with athletes working in small groups. For the football team, that means groups of 12 players sorted by position. The size of the group will increase in the coming weeks if there are no COVID-19 complications.

“It’s a lot of individual work, a lot of conditioning,” Fincham said. “It’s a start. The guys just felt good to be out there together as football players again.”

Wittenberg moved classes online in September because of a spike in COVID-19 cases, though Fincham said there were only a small number of cases within his program.

“I think it was a testament to our guys,” he said. “They’ve done a good job of buying into wearing masks and social distancing.”

Fincham plans to hold three practices a week — Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday — until students return home for Thanksgiving.

“This was the year we were supposed to be green offensively, and this is going to give us an opportunity to get more practices and more work together,” Fincham said. “We’re looking at trying to get guys in shape, trying to get them acclimated fundamentally to the game again and at the same time trying to teach concepts.”

That’s the bright side of not playing in the fall. Another positive has been the extra work freshmen will get before making their college debuts. Fincham announced a 65-man class in June.

“For years, I’ve been jealous of our basketball teams that come in and get a month to play open gym and then get acclimated academically and socially,” Fincham said, “and our guys are coming in and they’re baling water. They show up on campus, and they’re getting hit with all the changes. College football is a change. College academics are a change. Social life, meeting new people and all the anxiety that goes along with being 18 years old and in a new environment, all that throws them out of whack. It’s a lot to have on their plate. It has certainly helped our freshmen adjust.”