AIA Announces Revised Football Schedule for Fall 2020

Jordan Reyes August 13, 2020 @ 05:31 PM

When many western states moved the football season to 2021 (including California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington) the fate of Arizona high school football was left to speculation until the AIA announced last week that fall sports would continue with a revised schedule. In the announcement, the AIA set September 7th as the first day of practice with varsity games beginning the weekend of October 1st. Team’s will have a reduced eight-game regular season instead of the usual ten ending November 20th and the playoff brackets will also be cut in half in each conference from 16 down to eight with the state championships being played December 11th-12th. Prior to the announcement many coaches, administrators, and fans questioned if Arizona should follow suit with neighboring states pushing the season back to the spring but the overall reaction to the AIA current plan has been a positive one. Many coaches immediately applauded the AIA’s ability to formulate a plan that gives all teams a chance to see the field despite difficult circumstances. All across twitter players posted of their excitement about the opportunity to compete with their teammates. Continuing with a fall season does create some obstacles for teams in certain districts but one underlying benefit that both coaches and players expressed is not affecting Winter/Summer seasons which would force multi-sport athletes to make a tough decision of which sport to play. Several schools have already canceled all fall sports as a safety measure. These schools include: Alchesay HS Baboquivari HS Buckeye Odyssey HS Chinle HS Ganado HS Greyhills Academy HS Hopi HS Many Farms HS Monument Valley HS Page HS Ray HS Rock Point HS Sanders Valley HS Tuba City HS Window Rock HS Since the AIA’s plan was released the football landscape across the country has changed with several college conferences canceling their fall seasons including the PAC12 and BIG10. This release has caused many to question whether high school football should continue not only in Arizona but across the country. As of now, team’s are still preparing to begin practice September 7th with the hopes of the season going on as scheduled but that could be in jeopardy depending on how this difficult situation continues to develop. The first football action since the pandemic is set to begin today, August 13th, in Utah. This is one day after Friday’s big matchup between two strong programs was canceled when three players tested positive for COVID.