By Adam Roberts – 9/23/2020
Despite COVID-19 trending in the wrong direction for many parts of our area, football season is set to resume this week in Wisconsin, and now the neighbors across the river are set to join.
The Minnesota State High School League, which had previously postponed football and volleyball in August, this week reversed course by 15-3 and 14-4 votes respectively and will now allow both sports to begin on September 28th. Actual competitions won’t start until the weekend of October 9th, in order to give programs two weeks to establish practice routines (volleyball will start matches on the 8th).
Football will follow a similar setup to the WIAA, with a six-game regular season and two week postseason which will be discussed more at length at the league’s Advisory Board’s meeting next week.
The support for this decision appears to be largely across the board with the 500 member MSHSL schools, with 80 percent favoring fall football and 76 percent supporting volleyball. The member schools also had expressed concern for field conditions in early spring, particularly at smaller schools with natural grass fields.