Another state is on board to play football in the winter and spring. The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Directors on Friday offered unanimous approval to sanction three sports, including football, for a two-month season starting Feb. 22.
Indoor track and unified basketball were also sanctioned for seasons lasting until April 25, though no MIAA postseason tournaments will be held in order to give teams longer regular seasons.
Schedules for "Fall 2" season sports will largely be confined to local and league play. Game-day football rosters are limited to 45.
"I'm just extremely happy that these kids get a chance to play," Duxbury football coach David Maimaron told the
Boston Herald. "If there's anything we
learned, it's that nothing is guaranteed. Coaches and kids have been
walking on eggshells, but since we got the news, I've already gotten a
bunch of text messages from the players and they are excited."
Massachusetts is at least the 13th states to commit to football in the winter or spring of 2021 after 33 states fought through COVID-19 to complete traditional fall campaigns, finished off last week in Michigan.
Last week, Illinois and New York were cleared to play on the gridiron. Illinois can begin as early as Feb. 15 while New York squads will begin sometime in the spring. Other states to announce concrete plans for football to begin sometime in the next three months are Oregon, Washington, Virginia and Rhode Island.
California, Maine, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., have yet to set dates to play.
Governing associations in Nevada, Vermont, Hawaii and Connecticut announced there will be no tackle football seasons in their states in 2020-21. Vermont completed a 7-on-7 flag football campaign in October.
St. John's celebrates its 2019 state Division 1 title.
File photo by Mike Braca
