AURORA | The Colorado High School Activities Association gave further clarification about the look of high school football for both the fall season and one in the spring.
Schools across the state have until Monday morning to let the state’s governing body know if they will choose to play in Season A (which will begin with practice on Sept. 24) or Season C (which will begin with practice on Feb. 25, 2021) — they can pick only one — which CHSAA said will be structured identically and each will have a state champion.
According to a press release posted Thursday, both football seasons will be made up of six regular season games and at least one additional game for each team, either in the postseason or against another non-qualifying team.
The postseason will consist of eight teams and the field will be set and seeded by the CHSAA Seeding Index, which is made up of RPI, MaxPreps, CHSAANow.com coaches poll and Packard Rankings. Teams must play four of the six regular season games to be eligible for the playoffs.
CHSAA plans to build the schedules “due to the short amount of time prior to the start of the season” and will attempt to keep leagues intact if 50 percent of the league is playing in a given season. That is likely to mean the Centennial League — the majority of which reside in Cherry Creek Schools, which said Thursday it planned to play in Season A — will play each other.
The fall regular season will open Oct. 8 with the opening round of the postseason scheduled for Nov. 21, with semifinals the following week and the state championship game on Dec. 5. The spring season would begin on Feb. 25 and open postseason play April 24, followed by semifinals May 1 and championship May 8.
Schools have been sent guidelines regarding the prevention of the possible spread of COVID-19.
Fall football became a reality Wednesday when Gov. Jared Polis’ office approved variances requested by CHSAA — which allows for 50 players per team in a game — and the CHSAA Board of Directors voted 12-3 in favor of moving forward.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
