Lexington drops appeal to shift S.C. sports seasons. New start date still possible
Lexington County is dropping its proposal to flip South Carolina’s high school sports season and move football into the spring.
Lexington County athletic director David Bennett and Lexington 1 superintendent Greg Little notified members of the South Carolina High School League appellate panel on Monday they would drop their appeal, which was scheduled to be considered again next week. The plan that would shift football season to early January and move traditional spring sports such as baseball, softball and girls lacrosse to the fall was voted down 16-1 at last month’s S.C. High School League Executive Committee meeting.
With Lexington County dropping its appeal, the South Carolina High School League’s sports calendar plan will remain in effect for the upcoming school year.
“In talking with members of appellate panel and superintendents, principals and athletic directors around the state, they feel that is that is the best interest to drop it so we don’t have this division throughout the state and let the executive committee come up with the best plan,” Bennett told The State. “Our hope and prayer is they come up with the best plan.”
The SCHSL plan has fall sports practices beginning Aug. 17 and football games starting four weeks later. SCHSL commissioner Jerome Singleton said that all fall sports teams get two scrimmages and a jamboree. The plan calls for seven-regular season football games starting Sept. 11.
But sources have told The State the official start of fall practice is likely to be moved to Aug. 31 or Sept. 8, which would delay the start of games as well. That proposal will be voted on the next executive committee meeting, which is scheduled for Wednesday at 9 a.m.
The SCHSL plan did not address dates or the outlook for winter and spring sports, focusing only on the fall and sports such as football, competitive cheer, girls tennis, girls golf, swimming and volleyball. The winter and spring sports plan will be revisited at a later date and could be adjusted as needed, according to SCHSL commissioner Jerome Singleton.
The State asked 30 football coaches from around the state which plan they liked better, and a majority were in favor of Lexington’s proposal. Many coaches think playing football in the fall is unlikely because of high number of COVID-19 cases around the state.
But some football coaches told they state they rather keep things going now, rather than having to start again in the fall.
Under S.C. High School League rules, Lexington County had a chance to appeal and did so before the appellate panel on July 21, but the panel pushed back voting on it until Aug. 10. That meeting will no longer take place.
Baseball and basketball coaches seem to favor the SCHSL’s approved plan along with the volleyball and softball coaches. The S.C. Coaches of Women’s Sports Association said that volleyball and softball coaches were against Lexington’s plan. The state’s soccer coaches association also were in favor of keeping the seasons as is.
The S.C. Baseball Coaches Association also conducted its own survey on the matter, asking its members which plan they liked better. Sixty-seven percent of the coaches who answered the survey voted against the Lexington plan and 77 percent voted against the single-elimination playoff that would be used in the format.
A few states — California, Maryland, District of Columbia, Washington, Illinois, Virginia and New Mexico — already have moved football away from the fall.
Singleton said last month that if a football season gets postponed for the fall, there would be the option to move it to the spring under the SCHSL plan, though it would present challenges.
“It’s very much a moving target,” Singleton said. “I talk to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) twice a week. I talk with the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee at least once a week. I’m in contact with the governor’s office every two weeks. I talk with other state executive directors about their processes, their decisions, the information they’re getting. I try to get a feel for what the surroundings are.“And believe me, if we knew we could delay things for two months and everybody would be safe, I’d do that in a minute. In a minute. But we don’t know that, and nobody does.”
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 SCHSL hasn’t said when Phase 2 can begin or what it will look like.
This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 12:09 PM.
