No decision yet on fall contact sports

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

COLUMBUS – It appears a decision on whether or not to play high school contact sports in Ohio may come at the 11th hour.

During Tuesday’s press briefing in Columbus, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine admitted the status of contact sports like football and soccer is unknown. Cross country was also classified as a contact sport but it was changed to non-contact status on Tuesday.

“We don’t know exactly what is going to happen as we move forward,” DeWine said of contact sports. “We have provided some continuation of practice and other things that are normally done, but the thing we’ve not done yet (is decide on contact sports) because frankly we want to get a little bit closer to the date to see where this situation is with the COVID.”

“We want to get a little closer in time to that before making any type of final decisions,” DeWine added. “We also know some schools are not going back in-person and are going online have made a decision already to not go back in regard to sports – that’s their decision.”

Representatives from the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association and the Ohio High School Athletic Association met with Lt. Governor Jon Husted on Monday, a day earlier than expected. A statement from the OHSFCA said the organization’s recent COVID-19 recommendations proposal gained approval from Husted, and it said the OHSAA wants to adopt the 38-page proposal.

During Tuesday’s briefing, DeWine and Husted talked about a rule that apparently calls for mandatory COVID-19 testing 72 hours before an athletic event, something that had fans and others up in arms and gave doubt that contact sports could be played this fall.

“We don’t have the ability to do that kind of massive testing today,” DeWine told reporters. “It’s simply not on the table to do that.”

“There has been some confusion about this in that the renewal of the order somehow represents the plan for return to play this fall,” Husted said. “That’s not the case – we are still working with the Ohio High School Athletic Association to finalize the plan and we’re still considering many options, because we want student-athletes to return to play.”

“We’re trying to accommodate both the health and the practical considerations that must go into any decision for the athletes, coaches and fans,” Husted continued. “We understand the uncertainty and the anticipation surrounding the hopefully forthcoming announcement about that new guidance in the near future.”

In the meantime, fall sports practices are underway, but scrimmages in contact sports – football and soccer – remain on hold.

The high school soccer regular season is currently slated to begin on Friday, August 21, while the high school football season is currently scheduled to kick off on August 28.