UIL MOVES 5A/6A FOOTBALL & VOLLEBALL BACK FIVE WEEKS
CUBETTES TO OPEN SEASON SEPT. 14; CUBS TO OPEN SEPT. 24
The University Interscholastic League has postponed the start of the high school fall sports season for Class 6A and 5A football and volleyball teams, amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
In an announcement on the organization’s Twitter site, practices for the two sports in the organization’s highest classifications will start five weeks late: Sept. 7, rather than Aug. 3. Volleyball teams can start games Sept. 14; football, Sept. 24.
Each sport will still play a full season with football playoffs starting in early December and extend through January 2021. The volleyball state tournament is set for Dec. 11-12.
Brenham Athletic Director and Head Football Coach, Eliot Allen told KWHI this morning, “We’ve been in limbo for so long, it’s good to have a concrete date to work with.”
Allen cautioned, “This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot of issues to be navigated, but it’s good to have the dates now in front of us.”
Allen added that previous rumors of district-only games has been dispelled and his understanding is that the Cubs will get to play all ten of their scheduled game—three pre-district and seven district games.
The UIL will permit schools in Class 4A and below to start on-time for all fall sports: football, volleyball, cross country and team tennis. State championships for the smallest four classifications will remain in the traditional timeframe.
In its announcement Tuesday, the UIL said it will work “directly” with schools that have scheduling issues within the frame of the plan “to allow them flexibility to complete as many contests as possible.”
The UIL’s decision comes in the wake of entities around the state suspending high school athletics in conjunction with mandates for online instruction to start the 2020-21 school year.
The UIL’s decision makes Texas, along with California, the most notable states to postpone fall sports.
Associations in California, New Mexico and Washington, D.C., have moved the football season to at least December or 2021. Arizona and Virginia have also announced indefinite suspensions.