The Ohio High School Athletic Association will shorten the regular season to six weeks prior to playoffs beginning for the season.
“Schools may keep their first six previously scheduled games, but all regular-season football contracts are now voidable by either school, especially in the event that conferences redo their league schedules to fit into the first six weeks,” the OHSAA said. “In addition, the OHSAA will determine new playoff regions in September. Schools that are eliminated from the playoffs may continue to schedule regular-season games up until November 14.”
Regular season games will begin the week of Aug. 24, which is the same traditional starting date for the season.
Schools that have currently paused sports could still begin their season in September or early October and compete in the playoffs. OHSAA said schools are not required to enter the playoffs if they would rather play regular season games until Nov. 14.
“To both ensure we can offer students the opportunity to participate in education-based athletes but do so with their best interests in mind, we believe this modified plan offers a positive solution by addressing many of the concerns of our member schools,” said Jeff Cassella, president of the OHSAA Board of Directors and athletic administrator at Mentor High School.
The changes come as new recommendations were shared with OHSAA from the Ohio Governor’s Office.
“Following a recommendation this week from the Governor’s Office to shorten the season due to concerns that COVID-19 may spike in early winter, the Ohio High School Athletic Association announced Friday that if high school football games are approved by the Governor, all teams will enter the playoffs beginning Oct. 9 and the state championship games will be played no later than Nov. 21,” according to OHSAA.
The number of playoff rounds will be dependent upon the schools choosing to enter the playoffs in each division. Seeding for the playoffs will happen at a tournament seed meeting the week of Sept. 28 to form the regional brackets, similar to the process in other OHSAA team sports.
“Schools eliminated from the OHSAA playoffs or that choose not to enter the OHSAA playoffs have the option to schedule additional regular season contests through Saturday, Nov. 14,” OHSAA announced.
There will be a maximum number of 10 regular season games.