Will there be postseason football games following the Fall II season?
MIAA Tournament Management Committee and football committee member Jim O’Leary said during a football committee meeting on Tuesday that the idea is still a possibility.
“We have not taken tournaments off the board at this time,” O’Leary said. “It’s one of those wait-and-sees. ... It’s on our agenda.”
The same mindset is also being applied to the upcoming winter and spring seasons.
There are several factors at play when it comes to a potential tournament structure for those seasons, according to O’Leary. What the length of the seasons are, if they happen, is an important element. Another is what would happen if some districts decide to go past competition cut-off dates that are set, making them ineligible for tournament play.
“We will have to see what the board does at the end of October to get guidance from that,” O’Leary said. “We will look at winter first, Fall II, then spring. There will be multiple meetings and multiple discussions about what it would look like.”
The status of postseason play following the Fall II season was just one of many topics of discussion during Tuesday’s meeting.
The MIAA Board of Directors approved a recommendation during a meeting in August that allows for out of season coaching during the Fall I window. Members of the football committee discussed the approved recommendation during Tuesday’s meeting.
Milton football coach Steve Dembkowski asked the committee if football coaches will have protection from schools if an athlete is injured during out of season coaching while exercising.
“Is there liability there?” Dembkowski said.
The question was followed by members of the committee explaining how their individual schools are going about out of season coaching. Dennis-Yarmouth Principal Paul Funk said that his school requires students to have an up to date physical and concussion test on file with the school or they will not be able to participate in out of season activities.
“I want kids that are interested in playing football doing something in the fall,” said Funk. “I’m concerned about the social and emotional issues with students. It’s not going to be a football practice schedule. It won’t be every day, but we are putting something together to have there be some sort of action for students that want to play football.”
Although the MIAA Board of Directors approved out of season coaching last month, the final decision on how it is implemented, if at all, is up to a school’s principal. Some communities that have high coronavirus cases have decided to not participate in out of season coaching. Some of those communities are in bigger cities like Boston.
O’Leary discussed how some communities having out of season coaching while others can’t affects equality across the state.
“Does this further divide our state between people that are in school or out of school?," O’Leary said. "I don’t know where fairness comes into this whole picture. ... I think that can’t be lost in this discussion.”
The MIAA voted last summer to adopt National Federation of State High School Associations rules for the Fall 2020 season. For football, games must have 12 minute quarters. In addition, many personal fouls do not result in automatic first downs and throwing the ball out of bounds is always illegal even when the quarterback is outside the tackle box.
Those rules were set to be implemented this fall, but since the season had been postponed to Fall II, the committee voted to solidify its stance that it move forward with those rules in 2021. The committee voted 18-0-0 to implement the rule changes for the Fall II season.
The committee is also interested in starting the process of putting together proposed modifications for the Fall II season with the creation of a sub-committee. Members of the committee were instructed to email committee member Richard Pearson if they are interested in being a part of the sub-committee.
The football committee’s next meeting is set to take place on October 14. Discussion will revolve around the structure of football’s season in Fall II and how a potential tournament would look.
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