Minnesota to shutdown rest of high school football, volleyball seasons Friday due to COVID-19

After flipping its fall sports season from fall to spring and back to fall due to coronavirus concerns, Minnesota high school athletes and coaches will need to adjust once more. One week into its football playoffs, the Minnesota State High School League has shuttered sports competition for three weeks beginning at midnight Saturday due to an emergency executive order from Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

The MSHSL has canceled the rest of the football and volleyball playoffs and mandated that all football section play be completed by Friday night. Volleyball is winding up its regular season while playoffs were slated to start next week. The start of the winter season also will be affected due to the shutdown.

In a statement following the governor's announcement, the MSHSL said it received feedback from member schools and support groups and task forces. "Additional flexibility is provided in the guidance for both sports to complete their competitions this week. In football, scheduling adjustments may be made at the region level. In volleyball, there is an option for member schools to schedule one additional match this week which may assist in providing some closure for teams.

"Coaches may maintain virtual connection with their student-athletes and provide support, mentorship and individualized workouts. Further guidance will be provided regarding virtual coaching by the end of this week. ...  The League will provide additional guidance prior to the end of this week regarding other programs including remaining winter sports and fine arts activities. In addition, work will continue in studying options for the remaining seasons as well as those scheduled to begin in the spring."

The shutdown late in the season brought back memories of March, when the MSHSL — like dozens of other state associations — shut down sports deep into the winter playoffs due to the initial U.S. wave of the pandemic. 

“There is gratitude that we’ve had at least some of our season, but it’s also sad,” football parent Dawn Gillman told the Minnesota Star-Tribune of this week's announcement. “I do feel frustrated with our leadership in the state of Minnesota in determining what was safe or not. If the season started on time, it still could have been shorter and it could be wrapped up by now."

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On Sept. 21, the MSHSL voted 15-3 to move football and volleyball back to the fall season, about six weeks after it had

moved those two sports to the spring due to coronavirus concerns. Minnesota was the fourth state at the time to make the double switch.

In all, 15 states kept their commitment to move football to the spring while at least two — Colorado and Wisconsin — offered the sport in both seasons. Of the 35 that kept football in its traditional fall season, Alaska had to cancel its state championships due to high COVID-19 numbers, especially around its most populated region of Anchorage. Last week, Kentucky moved its football playoffs back a week and on Sunday, Michigan announced a three-week delay due to the virus.

On Saturday, Wyoming and the Dakotas finished football playoffs with championship games, and this week, seven more states are scheduled to finish up, including Ohio which Thursday announced a change of site due to a health advisory in Franklin County.