Some Redwood Empire high school football games on for Friday

In the latest twist in the North Bay League football schedule that has been in constant flux since deadly wildfires erupted last week, Rancho Cotate will now host league rival Cardinal Newman in a Monday night showdown that will not count in league standings - but will affect how both teams are seeded heading into the playoffs.

The 7:30 p.m. contest came about after Santa Rosa City Schools officials on Tuesday reversed an earlier decision and decided teams from their five high schools will not compete this weekend and are barred from practicing until next week.

No district schools are allowed to compete in football games until Oct. 27. That change sent a ripple through the latest reconfiguration of the NBL football schedule, prompting officials from Rancho Cotate and Newman to set up the unprecedented “nonleague” matchup.

The two powerhouses will play again on Nov. 4 in their regularly scheduled game - a contest that will count toward league standings.

Elsewhere, NBL and Sonoma County League games will take place on a limited basis after widespread cancellations of sporting events in the wake of the deadly wildfires.

At least two SCL games are scheduled for Friday - Analy at Healdsburg and Petaluma at El Molino - but some contests remain in flux as teams not directly affected by the fires seek alternative opponents.

The fires caused the cancellation of the Oct. 13 games. In both leagues, those games will not be made up.

Due to Santa Rosa City Schools' decision to hold its teams out, no NBL games before Oct. 27 will count toward league standings, but games can be played.

The only remaining games that will count toward league standings will begin Oct. 27: Maria Carrillo at Rancho Cotate, Cardinal Newman at Santa Rosa, Ukiah at Montgomery and Windsor at Casa Grande. Games scheduled for Nov. 3 or 4 are: Rancho Cotate at Cardinal Newman, Montgomery at Maria Carrillo, Casa Grande at Santa Rosa and Windsor at Ukiah.

In the Sonoma County League, a game between Piner and Sonoma Valley will not be played after the Santa Rosa school district's decision on Piner's participation. The same is true for a nonleague contest between Elsie Allen and Del Norte.

The Petaluma-El Molino game figures to be a key matchup in the league race. El Molino is tied with Analy at 2-0 for first place in the league and Petaluma is a game back at 2-1.

Coach Rick Krist had his Trojans return to practice Monday. He said they “kept it light” in deference to the diminished air quality, but that the weather at the school was remarkably cooperative.

“We could see smoke all around us,” Krist said, “but the sky over our heads was clear blue.”

Sonoma County League athletic directors met Monday and laid out preliminary plans for other fall sports as well:

The volleyball postseason tournament will be canceled and the week before the start of North Coast Section play will be used to make up canceled matches.

Tennis teams, with not much more than a week remaining in the regular season, will work to reschedule the lost matches, fitting them in as time and space allow.

Cross country teams will resume weekly meets next week and are likely to use the final week of the season to schedule two meets.

In the Coastal Mountain Conference, the umbrella organization for NCL I, NCL III North and NCL III South, the schools are invidually attempting to reschedule games before the NCS postseason competition begins.

“We're trying to play football games this weekend,” CMC commissioner Robert Pinoli said.

He explained that a conference-wide strategy would be less than effective because of the wide geographic area that the CMC covers, where some schools have had little or no impact from the wildfires and others have been profoundly affected.