Westwood's Taylor Dellangelo stiff-arms a Negaunee defender during their high school football game played Oct. 25 at Westwood High School. (Journal file photo)

—————–

LANSING — The Michigan High School Athletic Association on Friday moved the football season to next spring but said other fall sports would proceed as scheduled during the coronavirus pandemic.

The move came just a few days after the two NCAA Division I conferences that include Michigan universities — the Big Ten and Mid-American Conference — postponed all fall sports and said it hoped to make them up in the second semester.

The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, a Division II league that includes Northern Michigan University, two other Upper Peninsula universities and a host of Lower Peninsula schools, also called off sports until Jan. 1 on Tuesday.

Max Jayne makes a kick return for Gwinn in a game against Lake Linden-Hubbell on Sept. 13 in Gwinn. (Journal file photo)

Previously, the MHSAA had allowed lower-risk fall sports — golf, tennis, cross country, and swimming and diving — to start. Competition guidelines for soccer and volleyball — moderate-risk sports that were in limbo — and swimming and diving will be announced after its Representative Council meets on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, golf, tennis and cross country have started practices and will be allowed to begin their seasons next week, golf and tennis on Wednesday and cross country on Friday. Of those sports, in the U.P. golf is not a fall sport, while tennis is played by girls and cross country by both genders.

MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said the decision to delay football — considered to be a high-risk sport for the spread of the COVID-19 virus due to the amount of player-to-player contact — was made by its Representative Council after consulting state health department officials and surveying high schools following the first four days of practice.

Football teams were allowed to practice beginning Monday in helmets but without pads. In a decision announced in July, those teams would’ve been able to move to full pads beginning this Monday.

“At the end of the day, we did everything we could to find a path forward for football this fall,” Uyl said in a statement. “There was just too much uncertainty and too many unknowns to safely play football this fall.

Marquette's Kameron Karp intercepts a pass intended for Alpena's Charlie Williams on fourth down at the 2-yard line in the first quarter of their high school football game played at William R. Hart Stadium in Marquette on Oct. 4. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

“Decisions have to be made on our other sports as well, but none of those carry the same close, consistent and face-to-face contact as football.”

Plans will be shared soon regarding allowed football coach-player workouts for the fall, as well as concepts for spring football season dates, format and playoffs, the MHSAA said.

The MHSAA went on to say it will work to limit the overlap of spring football with other traditional spring boys sports. More than 600 football teams were planning to play this fall — the MHSAA estimated 520 in 11-player and 83 in 8-player — which includes more schools than that because of the proliferation of cooperative programs that involve multiple districts.

More than 34,000 high school students played football in 2019.

In much of the state, high school volleyball and swimming and diving cannot occur indoors under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s order closing indoor gyms and pools to limit the virus’ spread. The MHSAA said the governor is expected to issue further guidance on indoor facilities “in the near future.”

While the U.P. and northern Lower Peninsula have looser restrictions because of a lower caseload of the coronavirus, it wasn’t certain whether volleyball or swimming — the latter only offered in the Lower Peninsula in the fall — could go ahead.

In a show of support, on Friday the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association said in an emailed statement that it “is in full support of the MHSAA” in its decision.

“We understand the decisions to make the adjustment to this Football season was made based on the best information available at this time,” the MIAAA said in the statement. “Athletic administrators throughout the state and nation are entrusted to provide safe, healthy environments for our students to participate in the activities they love. It is the role of administrators to be the guardians of fair play, sportsmanship, level playing fields and ethical behavior.”

The MIAAA, a professional organization for athletic administrators in Michigan, said it has more than 600 members.

Some information for this story was compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.