MADISON TOWNSHIP — Doug Rickert broke the news Wednesday morning and Madison’s athletic director found himself fighting back tears.

Madison was forced to cancel Friday’s football game at Ontario as well as next week’s Ohio Cardinal Conference opener at Wooster because of a spike in COVID-19 cases among members of the football program. The Rams hope to resume the season Sept. 17 against West Holmes.

Rickert informed the football team Wednesday during a hastily-convened team meeting.

“I just kept looking at a couple of seniors in that crowd of kids and it breaks your heart. You about cry,” Rickert said. “I know what it was like to play and I know what it was like to coach. I had kids who played sports.

“We went through this with one senior class and we thought we were out of the woods but the reality is here we are again.”

Rickert said there were a handful of confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday morning. In addition, he said about a dozen members of the football team were absent from school Wednesday.

“We’re not sure where we stand, but we don’t want to take that over to Ontario. We’ve got to try to keep our kids and their families and our coaches and their families safe.

“It’s hit us and it’s hit us pretty hard. Fortunately, it seems to be confined to the football program. We will continue to play our other sports and monitor the situation.”

Madison, like most schools in the area, saw a spike in COVID-19 cases during the winter sports season last year. Rickert said this year’s spike looks different.

“This is a lot earlier and what we’re seeing here is more kids getting sick,’ Rickert said. “We didn’t see the kids getting as sick last year. We’re seeing kids that look bad.

“They’re getting sick and the biggest fear is what happens to their families.”

Madison isn’t the only area school to experience a surge. Crestline has gone to its remote learning model for the rest of the week because of a spike in coronavirus cases and Lexington announced it will go remote for two weeks beginning next week.

“Who know what happens down the road? We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Rickert said. “This stuff is everywhere and there’s no getting away from it.”