State-by-State look at how COVID-19 is affecting Fall High School Football Camps

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With the Fall high school football landscape changing quickly due to the coronavirus pandemic, High School Football America has put together a state-by-state list of the latest news that is updated daily.

Right now, twenty-four states have officially decided to push back the start of the 2020 high school football regular seasons. They are: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Twelve states — California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon Virginia and Washington — have moved their seasons to 2021. Washington, D.C. is also moving the season to next year.

UPDATED – August 9, 2020 8:36 a.m.

Alabama

Fall camps opened August 27. The regular season is set to begin August 20.

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Alaska

On July 22, the Anchorage School District shutdown summer workouts for at least two week. Fall camps across the state opened July 29, but the ASD won’t allow workouts until August 20, which is when the regular season is scheduled to open The Alaska School Activities Association has announced it plans to plan football in the Fall, but hasn’t made an announcement since the ASD made its changes.

Arizona

The Arizona Interscholatic Association has delayed Fall practice twice. The new start date for practice is September 7 with the regular season now scheduled to start September 30.

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Arkansas

Governor Asa Hutchinson says high school football practice won’t begin without a significant decrease in COVD-19 cases in the state. Fall practice is scheduled to begin August 5.

California

The California Interscholastic Federation is moving high school football into 2021.

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Colorado

Colorado High School Activities Association has postponed high school football until 2021.

Connecticut

The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference is moving the regular season back to September 24. The CIAC also cancelled all Thanksgiving Day rivalry games.

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Delaware

The Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association is moving high school football to 2021.

Florida

After first announcing that Fall camps in the Sunshine State would open as scheduled on July 27, the Florida High School Athletic Association reversed that decision and now camps will open August 24.

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Georgia

The Georgia High School Association has pushed the 2020 regular season back two weeks, but has decided to still play a ten game regular season with full playoffs. The regular season will open September 4.

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Hawaii

The Hawaii High School Athletic Association has delayed high school football until 2021.

Idaho

The Idaho High School Activities Association says it’s hoping to start the 2020 high school football regular season as scheduled with regular season games to begin August 28.

Illinois

The Illinois High School Association has pushed its high school football season back to the Spring of 2021.

Indiana

High school football practice begin August 3. The regular season begins August 21.

Iowa

The Iowa High School Athletic Association is moving forward with plans to plan its 2020 high school football season as scheduled. The IHSAA made the announcement Friday saying practice would begin on August 10 and the playoffs will be expanded to include all schools.

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Kansas

The Kansas State High School Activities Association is moving forward with the 2020 season as planed with regular season games starting September 4.

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Kentucky

The Kentucky High School Athletic Association has delayed the start of camps to August 24 with the start of the regular season scheduled for September 11.

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Louisiana

The Louisiana High School Athletic Association opened its Fall high school football camps on August 3. The LHSAA has set October 8 as the first day of the regular season.

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Maine

The Maine Principals’ Association has moved back the first day of practice to September 8.

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Maryland

The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association is moving high school football to 2021.

Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association is pushing the start of the Fall sports season to September 14. One school, Mystic Valley Regional Charter School decided to cancel its season due to the coronavirus on June 25.

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Michigan

The Michigan High School Athletic Association on July 29 affirmed that practice will begin August 10 with the first games August 27.

Minnesota

The Minnesota State High School League has moved football to the Spring sports season.

Mississippi

The Mississippi High School Activities Association is moving the 2020 high school football season back by two weeks. Falls camps will open August 18 with the first games September 4.

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Missouri

The Missouri State High School Activities Association is moving ahead as scheduled. Fall camps open August 10. The regular season is scheduled to open August 28.

Montana

On July 28, the Montana High School Association announced Fall practice will begin August 14. The MHSA has developed a five tier plan, if situations change with the pandemic. The first week of regular season games is set for August 27.

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Nebraska

Nebraska is planning on having the Fall sports season proceed as planned. Early in July, the Nebraska Shrine Bowl was played in-front of nearly 2,500 fans. It was the first high school football game since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Nevada

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association had moved high school football to the Spring season starting in March.

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New Hampshire

The New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association is expected to make a decision on playing football in the Fall by July 31.

New Jersey

The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association has decided that the earliest the 2020 high school football regular season will start is October 2.

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New Mexico

The New Mexico Activities Association has decided to flip high school football to the Spring of 2021.

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New York

The New York State Public High School Athletic Association continues to adapt the Fall sports season. On Thursday, the NYSPHSAA announced that it was pushing back the start of Fall practice for all sports to September 21 from its original opening slated for August 24 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

If athletics are allowed to return in September, football teams would still need ten practices before playing regular season games, which means schools would need to dramatically adjust their usual 7-8 game regular seasons. Under this scenario, the first games couldn’t be played until October 1 and there would be no state championships.

If high school sports can’t be played in 2020, the NYSPHSAA has developed a plan that would include three, 10-week seasons beginning January 4.

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North Carolina

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association has delayed the start of the 2020 high school football season until September 1. The NHSCAA says teams can enter Phase 2 of their reopening August 3. The North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association has pushed back the start of the season to September 4 with regular season games beginning September 18.

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North Dakota

The North Dakota High School Activities Association is playing on opening Fall camps on time on August 10.

Ohio

The Ohio High School Athletic Association has stated multiple times that it plans on using its normal schedule that has football practice beginning August 1.

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Oklahoma

On July 23, David Jackson, the executive director of the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association told reports on a Zoom call that the state is still shooting to start the Fall season as scheduled. Fall camps are scheduled to open August 10.

Oregon

On July 22, the Oregon School Activities Association decided to put the 2020 high school football regular season on-hold indefinitely. Fall camps will still open Oregon 17.

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Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association originally said it would open Fall camps on-time on August 10. On August 7, it pushed the date to August 24 after Governor Tom Wolf suggested that no sports should start in PA until January 1.

Rhode Island

On July 6, the Rhode Island Interscholastic League said that Fall camps will open the third week of August with the regular season to begin “shortly after.” The RIIL’s regular season is set to begin September 4.

South Carolina

The South Carolina High School League is moving the start of high school football practice from July 31 to August 17. Under the new schedule, after two scrimmages, the regular season would start September 11 with a shortened seven game regular season and a three-or-four round postseason.

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The South Carolina Independent School Association has cancelled Week 0 games and will start season on August 3.

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South Dakota

9-man and Class 11B Fall camps opened August 10 with the other classifications opening August 10.

Tennessee

The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association will start the regular season on-time on August 20.

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Texas

The University Interscholastic League has moved back the Class 6A and 5A seasons by about a month. The 4A through 1A seasons will go on as planned.

Fall practice for the 6A and 5A schools that are mainly in metro areas, will start September 7, while Classes 1A through 4A will start as scheduled on August 3.

The first games for 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A will be August 27 through the 29, while the 6A and 5A first games will be September 24-26.

The change means that the 6A and 5A state championship games will be played sometime in January 2021. The other four classifications will hold their championships December 16-19.

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The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools updated its original 2020 plan on July 23. Instead of a 6-game regular season, TAPPS will now plan an 8-game regular season starting September 24.

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Utah

On July 28, the Utah High School Activities Association reaffirmed that it will start the regular season on August 13.

Vermont

Vermont Principals’ Association has moved the start of Fall camps to the end of August or beginning of September when schools open.

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Virginia

The Virginia High School League is moving high school football to Spring 2021.

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Washington

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has pushed-back the start of the regular high school football season March 2021.

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Washington D.C.

The District of Columbia State Athletic Association is moving football into the Spring. Practice is expected to start around February 1 with the regular season beginning February 22. It will end April 16, followed by a shortened postseason.

The Washington Catholic Athletic Conference has moved its football season to 2021.

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West Virginia

The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission is moving the start of the regular season back one week to September 3. Now, instead of practice beginning August 3, Fall camps will start on August 10.

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Wisconsin

On July 23, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association announced that its was pushing back the start of high school football practice to September 7 with regular season games to begin September 25.

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Wyoming

According to WyoPreps.com, it spoke with Ron Laird, commissioner of the Wyoming High School Activities Association, who said the state’s governing body is working on plans for football ranging from Plan A through Plan H. Class 4A practice is scheduled to start August 10 with the rest of the classifications starting August 17.

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About the Author

Jeff Fisher
Jeff is an award-winning journalist and expert in the field of high school sports, underscored with his appearance on CNBC in 2010 to talk about the big business of high school football in America.Jeff turned to his passion for high school football into an entrepreneurial venture called High School Football America, a digital media company focused on producing original high school sports content for radio, television and the internet.Jeff is co-founder and editor-in-chief of High School Football America, a partner with NFL Play Football.