On Friday, KSHSAA approved a proposal for fall sports to be played in the spring if school districts decide to not move forward this fall with activities as planned.
As of now, the show will go on, but it provides districts an alternative to providing their student athletes an opportunity to play the games they love.
The spring season would see Class 1A, 2A and 3A combined while 4A, 5A and 6A will join together. For the spring season to trigger, more than half of the schools in the “new” classifications will need to opt in by Sept. 21. However, if there is a spring season, there will not be a championship.
With the end of the pandemic nowhere in sight, school districts being able to test the waters for a few weeks before making a final decision is the right move by the state, but not having a championship is a swing and a miss.
Understanding that the amount of time between the end of the season and the beginning of the next is significantly shortened, but being able to see who really is the best team in the state – think Bishop Miege, Mill Valley and Derby all in the same bracket, which would never happen in a normal year, would be a sight to see.
This pandemic has brought one big matchup: Mill Valley and Derby in Week 1, but we could see more of these types of matchups and that’s what a 32-team playoff of Class 4A, 5A and 6A would bring. It would weed out the traditional 0-9 and 1-8 teams and bring even more competitive football for a five-week gauntlet. The chance of a 16-seed upsetting the No. 1 seed would drastically go up in this not-happening, but wishful scenario.
This will be a long three weeks while schools work to figure out their plans, but for our sake, let’s hope for a fall season so we can crown some champs.
Until then, stay safe, social distance and wear your mask. The only way we’ll have football is if we look out for each other.
