'The Old Rivalry' unlikely to be played this year as COVID-19 cases remain high in Jefferson County

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The official word will come Friday morning, but with Jefferson County still in the "red" or highest status of COVID-19 positives, it appears very likely that Jefferson County schools will have another week where they will not be allowed to play football.

That means the Male-Manual game, "The Old Rivalry," originally scheduled for this Friday, would not be played this season.

It's already been a frustrating stretch. At some point during this strangest of football seasons, duPont Manual head coach Scott Carmony realized that he had to stop doing any kind of long-term planning.

"It was about four or five weeks ago," Carmony said. "I was doing more changing and rearranging and rearranging of the rearranging than I was doing anything. It was just a complete waste of time, and it wasn't 20 minutes or 30 minutes. It was a waste of hours."

After some positive COVID-19 tests, Manual has played just four games, winning three.

Male has been luckier, getting in all six games on its schedule with five wins. Now, both schools area about to lose their biggest game.

"I'm a history guy," Male head coach Chris Wolfe said. "I teach social studies. So for me, you hate to see that kind of history go by the wayside."

How much history? Outside of a three-year period when the schools were consolidated in the early 1900s, Male and Manual have met on the football field each year since 1893. Through the Spanish Flu. Through World Wars. Through everything.

"It's the one thing that everybody talks about," Wolfe said. "The 50-year reunion — and I've been to a few of those, invited as a guest — when they come up and talk to me, that's what they talk about. We beat Manual, or we lost to Manual."

"If you're at Male or if you're at Manual, that is the single week of the year, and that is the single event of the year that you look forward to," Carmony added.

This Friday's football games involving Jefferson County schools were postponed last Friday, and the decision for the games of Nov. 6 will be made Friday. If games were to somehow be allowed, Manual has an open date while Male is scheduled to meet Ballard and would have to work something out with the Bruins before they could meet Manual.

JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio said last week that if Jefferson County was in the red, there would be no games.

Nov. 6 is the final Friday of the regular season. The first week of the playoffs is Nov. 13.