MHSAA reveals plan for fall, winter sports

Are you ready for some midweek football?

Regional playoff games would be played Tuesday and Wednesday in mid-December if the fall sports restart schedule released Wednesday by the Michigan High School Athletic Association can proceed following the current shutdown being enforced due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Regionals would be played Dec. 15 and 16; semifinals Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 21 and 22, and championship games Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 28 and 29, at Ford Field, the MHSAA said in a release.

If permitted by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, practice would

resume for all three fall sports Dec. 9.

Volleyball quarterfinals in all four divisions would be played Tuesday, Dec. 15, with semifinals played Dec. 17-18 and finals on Saturday, Dec. 19. The final two rounds would be played at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena, as previously scheduled.

In swimming and diving, all three Lower Peninsula finals would be completed on Tuesday, Dec. 22 (diving) and Wednesday, Dec. 23 (swimming) , with three high school sites each hosting

one meet.

Eight-player football semifinals would be played Tuesday, Dec. 15, and Wednesday, Dec. 16, and finals would be played Dec. 21-22 at Midland Community Stadium.

Schedule revisions were approved by the Representative Council of the MHSAA.

For winter sports, the council approved resuming practices on Dec. 9, with competition to begin Jan. 4.

The MDHHS issued an emer

gency order Sunday calling for a three-week pause of prep sports activity to help slow the spread of coronavirus infections.

The shutdown went into effect Wednesday.

Coaches are to have only virtual contact with athletes during the pause.

“We understand where COVID numbers were trending, and that’s why we have been supportive of the order to pause,” MHSAA executive director Mark Uyl said in the release. “But these fall sports deserve closure, and this strategy provides the best opportunities without further interruptions to a normal course of training and competition. A very small percentage of our teams remain active in our fall tournaments, also limiting potential exposure to the virus across the state.”

The council meets again Dec. 4, and at that time will consider possible tournament adjustments necessary due to the shortened winter season.

MEDIANEWS GROUP FILE PHOTO Donovan Edwards of West Bloomfield gains yardage during a Division 1 district championship game against Sterling Heights Stevenson on Nov. 14. West Bloomfield is slated to play Romeo in the regional round of the state tournament which is now scheduled for Dec. 15-16.