Due to an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease, Holmdel will not play its scheduled game this Friday night at Red Bank Regional

The Holmdel varsity football team will not be able to take the field this Friday night at Red Bank Regional due to an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease.   All three levels (freshman, junior varsity and varsity) are postponed and a makeup date has not been determined.   Red Bank Regional principal Risa Clay confirmed via Twitter that all three football games were postponed and RBR athletic director Del Dal Pra and Holmdel superintendent of schools Dr. Robert McGarry told the Asbury Park Press that the game was postponed due to Holmdel’s team having multiple cases of hand, foot and mouth disease.

The Center for Disease Control describes HFMD caused by a strain of the coxsackievirus:

It usually starts with a fever, reduced appetite, sore throat, and a feeling of being unwell (malaise). One or two days after the fever starts, painful sores can develop in the mouth (herpangina). They begin, often in the back of the mouth, as small red spots that blister and can become ulcers. A skin rash with red spots, and sometimes with blisters, may also develop over one or two days on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet; it may also appear on the knees, elbows, buttocks or genital area.  

The disease has an incubation period of three to six days.

Holmdel is the eighth reported New Jersey high school to be effected by hand, foot and mouth disease.  NJ.com reported of seven schools in northern New Jersey effected by an outbreak during the 2016 high school football season.  The makeup of the game will likely be in November.  Red Bank Regional’s bye is scheduled for next weekend, while Holmdel is off the weekend of October 28th and 29th.  Both teams play on Thanksgiving, which means the only chance for them to play is on the weekend of November 11/12 or November 18/19 assuming both schools are eliminated from post-season play.  The Hornets are currently 0-3 on the season, while Red Bank Regional has a 1-2 record.  Holmdel’s next game is scheduled for Friday October 7th when the Hornets host Saint John Vianney.  The Bucs do not return to action until October 15th when the travel to Tinton Falls to face Monmouth Regional on a Saturday afternoon.