Last week Gary Houghton stood on the steps of the Capitol speaking at a "Let Them Play" rally supporting the return of football and other high school sports.
Less than a week later, the Mason football coach learned the news he had been hoping to receive.
Football season is officially back with the Michigan High School Athletic Association announcing Thursday afternoon the sports was reinstated, and that competition was also approved for boys soccer, volleyball and girls swimming and diving.
The news came following an announcement from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer allowing organized sports to take place.
More: Whitmer gives the green light for organized sports
"I wasn't really sure if it was going to make a difference with the rally, but I felt it was the right thing to do," Houghton said as his team practiced behind him Thursday. "Like I said in my speech up there, it's never too late to do the right thing. That's how I feel about this. We might be looking at a shorter season, but it was the right thing to do to get this turned around."
Houghton delivered the news to his team during a team practice Thursday afternoon that was previously already scheduled. And his players were thrilled to learn that their season was back on for the fall after last month being postponed until the spring.
"It's pretty exciting," said Mason senior quarterback Chance Strickland, who helped the team to its first perfect regular season last fall. "We've all been working pretty hard this summer to be where we're at right now. Obviously, having it postponed or canceled at the time was disappointing. We are all really fired up to be able to play this fall."
Mason's Mason Stewart described the news as "the most amount of excitement I've felt in a long time."
There was similar excitement at Lansing Catholic for coach Jim Ahern, whose team ended last fall with a Division 5 state title.
"We're extremely excited, believe me," Ahern said. "We knew about it just as school was getting out so we had a quick meeting with the players. When we told them we were going to be able to have the season, it about blew the roof off. We're extremely excited that we're going to be able to do it in the fall."
The regular season will begin Sept. 18 with teams playing their originally scheduled Week 4 contests. Teams will play a six-game regular season and all teams in 11 and 8-player football will qualify for the playoffs. The 8-player state finals will take place Nov. 27-28 and the 11-player finals will be Dec. 4-5.
"I think that's probably the best way to do it because those teams are already scheduled for the most part," Ahern said. "I've always been a proponent of everybody getting in (the playoffs). I'd like to see us go to an eight-game regular season schedule with the ninth date being the first round of the playoffs with everybody getting in. Ninety-nine percent of the schools would be in that way so this year everybody would be in. We'll see how that works."
Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @brian_calloway
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'The most amount of excitement I've felt in a long time': Football season is back on - Lansing State Journal
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