By: Dave Collins, Sports Director
The RMAC announced Monday afternoon that it is delaying the fall sports season. Games will now begin on September 18 while practices can officially start August 24.
The RMAC announcement, plus a separate move by another conference forced two changes to Chadron State's football schedule. The Eagles were supposed to open against RMAC foe Western Colorado on September 5, the only game in the conference that day.
CSC was also scheduled to travel to Rolla, Missouri to face Missouri S&T on September 12, however that game was postponed when the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) announced Monday morning that it was postponing football until spring 2021.
According to the GLVC the conference will not be playing non-conference opponents next spring, so it appears the CSC trip to Rolla will not be made up as part of the "2020-2021" season despite the S&T schedule showing the game as postponed, not canceled. It may end up being a fluid situation dependent on the virus, as well as if the RMAC ends up playing regular season football games in the spring of 2021 as well.
The RMAC did not announce any update on when or if the September 5 CSC-WCU game would be made up. Chadron State's first football game is now set for September 19 at South Dakota Mines with a 6:00 kickoff.
All other RMAC teams were not scheduled to play conference football games until September 19, so only non-conference games are impacted by the delay outside of CSC-WCU.
Could CSC and Western Colorado end up playing on November 7? The Eagles game at Western Oregon that day has already been canceled, so if the WCU game at Dixie State is also canceled at some point it would open up that date for WCU to travel to Chadron for a make-up game along with the rest of the RMAC's regularly scheduled games.
Chadron State volleyball is losing several non-conference matches in early September as the conference included a mandate volleyball could only compete in conference play. CSC was scheduled to play eight matches in the Steel City Showcase in Pueblo, and the Northern State Tournament in Aberdeen, South Dakota.