MHSAA Announces Restart Schedule For Football Playoffs and Fall/Winter Sports

When Michigan health officials announced the latest round of safety protocols, it meant an immediate pause to high school sports.

Most Fall sports were right in the middle of their playoff runs, including football, which had just finished up the district finals games. Nobody really knew what to expect from the MHSAA once the pause was announced, and most feared the worst. Now the MHSAA has released a clear cut plan to finish the fall seasons, and start winter sports, if the safety protocols are lifted.

Keep in mind that is a BIG if. Everything depends on the MDHHS safety order being lifted in early December as was originally planned. We all know that this order could easily be extended though, making the plans from the MHSAA null and void.

Keep in mind that so much of this is not written in stone, but here is what the MHSAA has come up with so far.

FOOTBALL

11-Player Regional Finals and 8-Player Semifinals would be played Tuesday, Dec. 15, and Wednesday Dec. 16; 11-Player Semifinals and 8-Player Finals would be played Dec. 21-22 at home sites, the 8-player championship games at Midland Community Stadium; 11- Player Finals will be played Monday, Dec. 28, and Tuesday Dec. 29 at Ford Field.

That is going to make for some COLD games, but it will be worth it to the teams that make it to the finals.

VOLLEYBALL

Quarterfinals in all four divisions would be played Tuesday, Dec. 15, with Semifinals played Dec. 17-18 and Finals on Saturday, Dec. 19. Those final two rounds would be played at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena, as previously scheduled.

SWIMMING & DIVING

The 3 Lower Peninsula Finals would be completed on Tuesday, Dec. 22 (diving) and Wednesday, Dec. 23 (swimming) , with 3 high school sites each hosting one meet. This allows a two-week practice window for all participating individuals that previously met and entered qualification times or advanced from Diving Regional sites.

Winter sports would normally be starting their season in December, but that is obviously not going to happen. The MHSAA plan is to start practice on December 9th, and start games after Christmas break on January 4th.