‘We were at the finish line’: Charlotte 49ers home opener postponed due to COVID-19

For a second consecutive week, the Charlotte 49ers are finding out within 48 hours of kickoff that they’re not playing football. It’s a pattern that is becoming old fast for coach Will Healy.

“I think it’s kind of taken some of the fun out of it,” Healy said Friday after news that the 49ers’ Saturday home opener against Georgia State had been postponed because of positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing quarantines among Panthers players. “I think our players are in such a crazy head space right now, much less our coaches, that you don’t know what to expect next.

“You feel like — even me, a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week optimistic person — you go into the office every day and you’re wondering if somebody is going to call you and tell you that’s happened next.”

Last week, two days prior to their game against North Carolina in Chapel Hill, Healy had to inform his players the game was canceled because of contact tracing quarantines among nine Charlotte players.

“I mean, last week, Thursday morning, I was able to address them and let them know,” Healy said. “This week it seemed a little bit more real. We felt like we were at the finish line. It’s a home game, with parents coming in. You’re an hour away from having a special teams meeting and then hopping on the bus and heading downtown to go stay at the hotel.

“So it’s different. We’d gotten a little bit further than we did last week; the frustration was the same. Taking the air out of the room was the same as it was last week.”

It’s unclear — and unlikely — if the 49ers and Panthers will be able to reschedule the game.

“We are obviously disappointed for our team but certainly respect Georgia State’s decision and look forward to starting league play next weekend at FAU,” Charlotte athletics director Mike Hill said in a statement.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Friday that, according to an open-records request, between June 4 and Sept. 21, Georgia State conducted a total of 3,117 COVID-19 tests. Of those, 2,757 were administered to athletes and 360 to athletic staff. The tests yielded 49 positive tests — 43 athletes and six athletic staff.

The 49ers are scheduled to play again on Oct. 3 at Florida Atlantic in their Conference USA opener. The Owls’ game scheduled for Saturday against South Florida has already been postponed after positive tests were revealed at Notre Dame, against whom USF had played last week.

Charlotte’s next opponent after that, North Texas on Oct. 10, had its game Saturday against Houston postponed because of the coronavirus.

The 49ers, whose only game thus far this season was a 35-20 loss at Appalachian State on Sept. 12, would have played Saturday without at least 25 players, Healy told The Observer. Healy said injuries and more contact tracing quarantines would have caused the absences. There were no positive test results reported through the first two tests of three taken by 49ers players this week.

The extra week off will give injured players like quarterback Chris Reynolds (upper body) and defensive end Markees Watts (lower body) more time to fully heal from injuries sustained against App State. Reynolds practiced Friday, and Healy said he would likely have played against Georgia State. Watts was questionable.

The 49ers-Panthers game is the 22nd nationally to be postponed due to coronavirus concerns, at least through Friday afternoon. Charlotte is one of eight teams with multiple games called off, joining Houston, FAU, Memphis, Baylor, Virginia Tech, Arkansas State and Rice.

“This is going to be the story of 2020 each and every week,” Healy said earlier Friday, hours before knowing the game would be called off. “We’re going to find out on Friday night and Saturday morning who’s going to be able to play.”

With two games off what is now a nine-game schedule, Healy said the 49ers are continuing to look for an opponent for an open date they have Nov. 19, which originally was a game against Old Dominion, which announced it isn’t playing football this fall. Healy also said that if conference championship games are pushed back from Dec. 5, he’d like to find a game for then, too.

“I’m up for playing as many games as possible,” Healy said.

Up to 350 immediate family members of the Charlotte and Georgia State teams and staff were to be allowed into the game, it was announced Thursday. The 49ers had announced earlier this month that no fans would be allowed in their home September games.

Healy said that the team and coaches would find something fun to do on Saturday, perhaps play Wiffle ball, par-3 golf or have a coaches vs. players seven-on-seven football game (although Healy said some coaches had already opted out of that).

“I want to find some things over the next seven days to make sure that we become tighter as a football team,” Healy said. “(I want) to bring some of the newer guys in so we can continue for them to understand our culture, so that they can defend it. I’ve got that challenge on my hands; we need to become closer as a unit, for sure.”

This story was originally published September 25, 2020 at 2:27 PM with the headline "‘We were at the finish line’: Charlotte 49ers home opener postponed due to COVID-19."