The season might consist of five games, but the football coaches at Lompoc Valley high schools say their players are ready to go.

If Santa Barbara County reaches the metric of 14 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 on Tuesday, it’s game on for high school football.

“Our guys are very much ready to play,” said first-year Cabrillo High coach Andy Guyader. “We’ve practiced, we’re excited.”

Said veteran Lompoc coach Andrew Jones: “We’re going to put our best foot forward. We want to get in as many games as possible, especially for our seniors who have worked so hard.”

Jones said Channel League principals and athletic directors voted Friday for a five-game schedule for their football teams instead of a scrimmage and a four-game season.

That would mean a season that goes from March 18, 19 or 20 to April 17.

Jones resoundingly approved of the decision of playing five games.

“I’m very grateful that our principals and athletic directors voted in the best interest of our athletes,” he said. “More games will mean more opportunities for our athletes to provide game footage to scouts (for recruiting purposes).”

High school football teams have doing conditioning workouts off and on since the summer. 

Once the county reaches the threshold, teams will train in shorts and helmets for three days and then practice in pads.

“Our guys are very excited to be going out there looking like an actual team again,” Guyader said.

He said there are more than 30 players on the varsity team.

Jones said the numbers in his varsity program have fluctuated.

“When we started (workouts in pods), we had 60,” he said. “Then, when it didn’t look like a season was going to happen, the numbers dropped to 15. Then the ‘Let Them Play’ group really got organized, put pressure on government (officials), and now it looks as though we’ll be able to play. I would say we have about 30 on our varsity.”

Jones said he’ll treat these games as a glorified extension of the spring football program. “According to the needs of our athletes, I expect more restricted contact practice time to give bodies time to heal” in the run-up to the 2021 fall football campaign.”

While there was so much uncertainty on whether football would be played, Jones kept his players engaged.

“We tried to stay optimistic, give the kids something to do — a chance to get out of the house and get off their computers,” said Jones.

Now it appears those efforts are going to be well worth it.