Scrambling Across State Lines to Play During the Pandemic

Christopher Smith for The New York Times

Mario Sanchez thought his only option was to leave.

Covid-19 had claimed the life of his grandfather. It led his father, who tested positive for the coronavirus last month, to isolate for 14 days in the basement of the family home in Olathe, Kan. And it threatened Sanchez’s dream of winning a state championship with his lifelong friends at Olathe North High School, after its football program was suspended amid high rates of coronavirus infections in the area.

So on Aug. 30, just two days after attending his grandfather’s funeral, Sanchez and his mother, Noemi Jurado, packed up their Honda Crosstour and drove from their home in a suburb of Kansas City,…