A lot can happen during the course of a high school football season.

Few people involved with the 2021 Slippery Rock High School grid campaign will ever forget what the Rockets have been through.

The fact this team is still playing — Slippery Rock plays rival Grove City for the District 10 championship at 1 p.m. Saturday at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium — is pretty amazing.

The Rockets have gone through plenty of adversity this season, moreso than most teams. To this date, they’ve only played eight games while dealing with the ongoing affects of COVID-19.

Slippery Rock was scheduled to play Fort LeBoeuf, Mercyhurst Prep and Titusville to begin the season. The Rockets faced none of them.

Fort LeBoeuf had to cancel out on the opener because of COVID issues. Slippery Rock athletic director Dan Follett found Central Clarion — which also lost its scheduled opening foe to COVID — and the two were able to play each other at the last minute. The Rockets took a 38-7 victory.

Mercyhurst Prep couldn’t play because of COVID the following week, so Slippery Rock ventured to Sharpsville for a “Plan B” scheduled game and won that one, 35-10.

The Rockets didn’t play at all in Week 3. They didn’t play another game later in the season due to COVID, also, then had their regular season finale at Butler taken away. The Golden Tornado had to play a rescheduled region game at Erie that night.

To top all that off, Slippery Rock hosted Sharon in a critical District 10 game — one week after a last minute 27-23 loss to Hickory — and had to do so without head coach Larry Wendereusz, starting quarterback William Mokel and starting running back Brett Galcik.

Wendereusz had to miss the game due to COVID protocol. Mokel and Galcik were out with injuries. Versatile back Shane Thompson was already out with an injury.

Defensive coordinator Eli Christy steps in as head coach, sophomore Eli Anderson steps in at quarterback, junior Maddox Allen makes his first varsity start at running back (and runs for 170 yards) as the Rockets held off Sharon, 35-33, to earn a bye in the playoffs.

Oh, yeah, Christy made a gutsy call to go for it on 4th-and-1 inside his own 20 while clinging to a two-point lead with more than a minute to play. Ryan Montgomery dragged two defenders with him for a first down and the rest is history.

Slippery Rock avenged its only loss last week, holding off Hickory, 23-17, to advance to the district title game. Thompson returned to the lineup and rushed for 154 yards. He also returned a kickoff 90 yards for a score.

And Mokel, healthy again, threw for 87 yards and a TD. He ran for a score as well.

This is storybook stuff.

Who knows how Saturday’s game will turn out?

Slippery Rock has had a season for the ages regardless.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle