DEERFIELD, Mich. – The Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) canceled the fall football season due to coronavirus (COVID-19).
The hope is to move the MHSAA football season to the spring. However, many online petitions and Facebook groups have been started trying to get signatures in favor of having students play in the fall.
Coaches and administrators are citing the unknowns of how COVID-19 will be in the spring, field conditions and competing sports as reasons to play now.
Officials with the Britton Deerfield School District are trying to make it so the students can play this fall. Superintendent Stacy Johnson is a mother to a football player and married to the head coach.
“I have no data to support the fact that my kids and conference should not be allowed to play football,” Johnson said.
Officials feel their students can play through the coronavirus pandemic.
“With all these kids that have been doing things since June 20, there have been almost no cases,” head coach Erik Johnson said.
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“We’ve done everything for our senior players to try and find that pathway forward. We simply ran out of time and with the evidence to be able to do that as safely as we need to do,” director of the MHSAA Mark Uyl said.
Even though some fall sports vary by Michigan’s designated COVID-19 regions, the MHSAA has worked closely with the governor’s office so it’s unlikely she’ll overturn the call to play in the spring.