What may have become football’s most consequential game of the season was cancelled Friday due to coronavirus concerns at New Braunfels High School.

The game was scheduled for Friday night at Ranger Stadium at 7:30 p.m., and would have pitted two geographical rivals against one another in what would have been a must-win game for both teams. Instead, they’ll be stuck at home for the tail end of an unforeseen “bye” week.

District 27-6A built in multiple bye weeks in each team’s schedule, in the event something like this happened. This week’s Steele-Wagner matchup was delayed for similar reasons, and will be made up on Nov. 5; the New Braunfels game will likely be played that same week.

So, what does this mean? No team wants to lose their bye week, especially a team with an actual bye week fast approaching. The Rangers are slated to play Clemens next week, with the Buffaloes coming off of a relatively short week (they played Judson on Thursday). Then, they’ll toy with South San before a bye week – and the schedule gets much tougher after that.

The team will travel to Rutledge Stadium on Nov. 13 to take on state powerhouse Judson, then host three straight opponents, all of which may become must-win games: East Central, Steele and the aforementioned New Braunfels, respectively. 

That end-of-season home stand may seem nice, but it also means the Rangers will be on the road for three straight weeks now: at Madison (a win), at Wagner (loss) and next week’s game at Lehnhoff.

This season, then, could mark the 5th straight regular season finale between Smithson Valley and New Braunfels, after schedule makers initially, curiously, stuck the game at the beginning of the district schedule. The Rangers won those four matchups by a combined 83 points, and have won 11 of 12 games this millennium. They lead the all-time series, 12-8.