Start date shifts again for SC high school football season. Here are the details
The high school football season in South Carolina has a new official start date ... again.
The S.C. High School League’s executive committee passed a proposal Wednesday with an 18-0 vote to move the start of football practice to Sept. 8, three weeks later than previously planned. The first football games can be Sept. 25, two weeks later than before.
The league also is leaving the door open that fall sports, if canceled because of the coronavirus, can be moved into the spring in a 23-page guidelines document sent to the schools.
“Winter and spring calendars may be modified to accommodate moving a fall sport into the athletic calendar in the event the sport is unable to hold their season in the fall due to COVID-19 conditions,” the SCHSL said in the proposal.
SC High School League commissioner Jerome Singleton on Wednesday said having that flexibility is important and acknowledged things can change on a week-by-week basis, especially if there is an outbreak at several schools or the COVID-19 spread goes up around the state.
Health officials reported 1,175 new confirmed cases Wednesday as total cases level off from where they were a few weeks ago.
“We can still make some additional decisions,” Singleton said. “We can come up with five or six pages of what-ifs. We want to address what is front of us now and if we are forced to change something then we will do it.
“... I wish I could tell you there is a date that I could say is good. For the health and safety of our students, coaches and fans that would attend, we’ve got to keep an eye on it and be willing to make adjustments to protect everyone’s health and safety.”
Wednesday’s move comes a couple days after Lexington County dropped its appeal on a proposal to flip the sports seasons, including moving football to the spring and baseball and summer to the fall. Singleton was asked about why the SCHSL doesn’t just move fall sports to spring like 11 other states have done.
“Why risk a chance when we could have opportunity to play? We don’t know if spring will be any better,” Singleton said.
The current plan has a seven-game regular season for football that starts Sept. 25, with state championship games set for Dec. 4-5. Singleton said the latest date that football can start is Oct. 2, if teams still wanted to have the championship games the first weekend of December.
Singleton said no site has been picked yet for those championship games. Traditionally, the Class A and 2A games have been at Benedict College in Columbia, and Class 3A, 4A and 5A have been at Williams-Brice Stadium.
Other start dates for fall sports are:
▪ Girls Golf: Start date Aug. 17 Championship Oct. 26-27
▪ Swimming: Start date: Aug. 17. Championships Oct. 10-12
▪ Girls Tennis: Start date: Aug. 17. Championships Oct. 31
▪ Cross Country: Start date Aug. 24. Championships Oct. 30-31
▪ Volleyball: Start date Aug. 24. Championships Nov. 4-7
▪ Competitive cheer: Start date Sept. 8. Championships Dec. 15-19
Football and cheer are considered two of the high-risk sports for spreading COVID-19.
“This plan allows sports to return in a safe manner and flexibility to make changes if warranted,” said executive committee member and Whale Branch athletic director Carlos Cave.
Another significant change with Wednesday’s developments: Only the top two teams in the region will make the playoffs for football, volleyball and tennis. Traditionally, the top three or four teams in each region make the playoffs depending on classification and region size. This year, there will be 16 teams per classification to make the payoffs, instead of 32 last year.
If such a rule was in place last year, Saluda High School wouldn’t have won the Class 2A football title. The Tigers were the third seed from their region. Other football champions finished first or second in their region.
Each team will be allowed two scrimmages (a jamboree can be considered one scrimmage). Football teams that do not make the playoffs will be allowed to schedule one additional game. That game must be played later than Nov. 20.
Cross country and cheer will have a reduction of teams competing at the state finals.
Currently, South Carolina high school teams are in Phase 1.5 of summer workouts. Phase 1.5 allows groups of 15 players and a coach and the shared use of a ball. The league said football teams can start using helmets on Aug. 17.
The league also passed two proposals related to the upcoming year. One of them was that no penalty or fine would be levied if a game or contest is canceled because of COVID-19.
Singleton also stressed it will be a local decision to say whether or not schools would want to stop playing once the season started.
“Each school can determine, no matter what the league has in place, that they will not or cannot play,” he said. “There’s no penalty for that.”
The league also will submit a proposal to the State Department of Commerce on the schools’ behalf regarding the amount of fans allowed in the stands. S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster said last week that he is limiting stadiums and other venues to 250 people or 50% of the posted occupancy, whichever is less. Excepts can be made but only through an approval process. And those venues must “require the wearing of masks or face coverings as a condition of admission or participation.”
The SCHSL has created a task force and Singleton would like to submit its proposal before the Department of Commerce before the first contest is held.
“I would like to see something before we have an event that could exceed 250 spectators,” Singleton said. “We are working on it as fast as we can and diligently as we can.”
This story was originally published August 5, 2020 at 10:59 AM.
