‘A good situation:’ AHSAA teams moving forward with 2020 football plans

After a pair of AHSAA committee meetings on Tuesday, the 2020 high school football season seems to be still on schedule for a late-August start.

“I think we are in a good situation,” Theodore football coach and athletic director Eric Collier said. “I like what we are doing as far as being full steam ahead. Everything is on schedule. We are going forth and the local school systems will make any changes if there are to be any. Right now, however, the state says we are going to play just like any other season.”

Collier is a member of the Football Coaches Committee which, along with the Fall Sports Committee, held virtual meetings Tuesday and heard updates from the AHSAA Medical Advisory Board Committee and the Alabama State Department of Education in regards to a return to school and play following the coronavirus pandemic.

ALSDE State Superintendent Eric Mackey gave a brief update concerning the Roadmap to Reopening Schools plan. AHSAA Medical Advisory Board chairman Dr. James Robinson and board member Dr. Jeffery Dugas updated the committees on most recent COVID-19 data and best practices relating to high school sports activities.

“We are going to play football,” said Blount head football coach and athletic director Lev Holly, also a member of the football committee. “What I’ve told our guys is all we can do is prepare. As long as we are preparing, everything will take care of itself, and we will make adjustments as needed.”

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Multiple schools have suspended workouts for a specific amount of time in recent weeks after positive COVID tests. Tallassee opted not to return to workouts this week after the Fourth of July Holiday after a positive test. The Tigers plan to return to work next week. Tanner also shut down its workouts until July 13 after a positive test.

“We were made aware that one of our players had tested positive,” Tallassee head coach Mike Battles told the Tallassee Tribune. “When we became aware of that, we decided to take this week too because it would give us that time, we need to make sure everyone is quarantined. No one can give you a straight answer on what to do but we are trying to do what is the safest for our athletes and safest for our individuals. It’s still a work in progress.”

AHSAA executive director Steve Savarese enlisted input from the committee members Tuesday concerning options for fall sports play moving forward. The AHSAA plans to present any recommendations to the Central Board of Control for review and approval at the Board’s next meeting on July 22.

“We are grateful to Dr. Mackey and Mr. (Terry) Roller of the ALSDE, and Dr. Robinson and Dr. Dugas of our Medical Advisory Committee for taking the time to join our committee meeting,” said Savarese. “And we appreciate the discussion and input we received from our own committee members.

“Our world would be in better shape concerning the recent increase in COVID cases if everyone followed the health and safety examples our coaches and administrators provide and practice daily.”

Handley coach Larry Strain left the meeting feeling more optimistic about the season.

“To my knowledge, we are going to start practice July 27 and start play in Week 0 on Aug. 21,” he said. “We hope every game will be played, but I think we must also realize there could be some vacated games somewhere during the season. Right now, though, that is not a decision the AHSAA will make. That decision would be made on the local level unless the state shuts it down again.”

Strain said there has been no talks in Alabama about moving football to spring as has been a discussion in states like Mississippi and Michigan.

“That is not going to happen,” he said. “I think the real question is what happens if we do have some vacated games or an interrupted season? The AHSAA has told us they have different scenarios, but the did not go into those today. Everything is fluid obviously. What is true on July 7 might not be true three weeks from now.”

Strain said the AHSAA plans to release some guidelines following the July 22 Central Board meeting covering specifics such as locker rooms, social distancing on the sidelines, etc. Collier said one particular emphasis Tuesday was transportation to and from games this fall.

“Traveling plans were big today,” he said. “Busing kids – things we can do to stay safe and keep from spreading anything. We talked about things like having masks, a seating chart on buses, keeping the windows down when possible. We are going to take every possible step to keep students safe.”

Collier said it is his understanding that any decision about the possibility of limiting the crowd size for games would be up to the individual schools or school systems.

Holly said he feels good about the 2020 season as it stands currently. The Leopards are scheduled to open Aug. 21 at Vigor in the annual Battle of Prichard.

“That said, everything can change as we have seen with this thing, but right now everything is on,” he said.

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