MA High School Football Cleared For Kickoff In 3 Weeks

MASSACHUSETTS — High school football teams throughout Massachusetts will kick off practices in a little more than three weeks after the coronavirus crisis kept them on the sidelines for the past six months.

And there will be tackling, with the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association calling for only minor virus-related rule modifications.

The MIAA Board of Directors on Friday approved rule modifications for the "Fall 2" season to begin Feb. 22. It includes high-contact sports such as football that were deemed too risky to play in the fall because of the virus. Other sports allowed to start Feb. 22 include cheerleading, indoor track, girls volleyball and girls swimming. Girls volleyball and girls swimming were allowed in the fall but many leagues chose to delay them.

The majority of schools across the state are currently holding indoor seasons for basketball, hockey, gymnastics and swimming.

"Obviously, decisions about participation in athletics and competition is at the local level for any sports that have been approved," MIAA Communications Director Tara Bennett told Patch. "We know that (winter indoor sports) games are happening. We're seeing this. And it's very exciting to know that student-athletes have that opportunity to participate.

"Kudos to all of our administrators, athletic directors and principals who are just, every day, dealing with something new and doing their best to make sure that the venue their student-athletes participate in is safe and available via the modifications that have been approved."

While moderate contact sports such as soccer, hockey and basketball have been played with varying degrees of rule modifications, football, wrestling and competitive cheer were considered the three biggest question marks amid the pandemic because of their high level of close contact.

However, the MIAA did not recommend the type of drastic modifications for football that were in place for soccer this fall, which included the elimination of headers, sideline throw-ins and the defensive wall on set kicks.

Football players will have to wear masks while on the field, a rule in line with most other sports. The sideline box will be extended to allow for players to socially distance when not in the game and game-day rosters are limited to 45 players per team. Players must all face in the same direction during huddles.

The MIAA said other rule modifications on football would have little effect on safety.

"The opportunity to play comes with great responsibility," the Massachusetts Football Coaches Association said. "It will not be easy. Now is the time to lead, plan and collaborate with administration to protect our players (and) families. Games will be great, but a safe journey to April 24 and beyond is the goal."

No indoor practices will be allowed — which could mean a chilly start for a season set to run from Feb. 22 to April 25.

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In girls volleyball, which the Northeastern Conference and others chose to push from fall to the so-called wedge season because it is the only fall sport played inside in a gym, modifications include a 15-player limit on rosters, ball cleaning after each set and social distancing on the sidelines. But the fall restriction that prevented players from blocking or spiking a ball at the net was removed.

Indoor track was moved from the winter season to the Fall 2 season primarily because the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center remained closed and that is where many leagues held their meets. Since the Roxbury facility will now be one of the state's five mass vaccination sites, it will be off-limits from February to April.

"That does impact indoor competition in eastern Mass. because that was a big hub for competitions," Bennett said, noting that because there are no playoffs or state championships in the Fall 2 season — which was also the case in the traditional fall and winter seasons — those major competitions will not have to find a new home.

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Competitive cheer will be allowed, with some modifications as well, but since cheer is not an MIAA-governed sport, the Board of Directors did not vote on those Friday or reveal what they will be.

Unified basketball was also cleared for the spring through a unanimous Board of Directors vote.

Some schools that chose to delay soccer and field hockey this fall because they were considered a high-risk community for coronavirus spread are also eligible to play those sports in the Fall 2 seasons.

Most modifications from the fall remain intact in those sports except penalty corners, which are now being allowed in field hockey, and soccer switching back from quarters to halves.

A potential wrestling season, which could include outdoor practices and meets, will be revisited for the spring season set to begin on April 25. Rule modifications for other spring sports, which were all canceled last year at the onset of the pandemic, are scheduled for an MIAA vote March 11.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)