West Orange High to reopen Oct. 1, Ocoee/Evans football game moved

Five days after Orange County Public Schools and the Florida Department of Health in Orange County announced that West Orange High School would shutdown — shifting students to LaunchED@Home — for two weeks due to 10-positive cases of COVID-19, the school will now reopen a few days ahead of schedule.

Originally the shutdown was planned to go until Monday, Oct. 5, but the DOH determined that the last quarantines needed will end Wednesday, Sept. 30 — allowing West Orange to reopen Thursday, Oct. 1.

With the lifting of the quarantine early, and with no cases of COVID-19 being diagnosed within the football program, the DOH cleared the Warriors football team to play its season opener against Boone on Friday, Sept. 25 — though the game will be at Boone, and no additional West Orange students or staff will be permitted to attend. The team is said to be practicing at a local facility, instead of on campus.

Meanwhile, down the road at Ocoee High School, the Knights football team will see its game against Evans get pushed back from Friday, Oct. 2, to Monday, Oct. 5, to allow Evans players more time to practice and prepare for the game following a two-week quarantine period that was placed on the program after five-positive cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed.