High School Football Is Back In Massachusetts

DANVERS, MA — High school athletic departments across the state have grown used to having to plow snow off the football field at the end of seasons in recent years.

Never before have they had to do it days before the first practice.

For the past year of the coronavirus health crisis, of course, nothing has been like it ever was before, so it only makes sense that a football season that traditionally begins with conditioning practices in the searing August heat and culminates for many teams on a frosty Thanksgiving morning instead this year begins in the shadow of Valentine's Day with a fresh 6 inches of snow on the sidelines.

On Monday, football teams across the state will hold their first practices in what coaches and players hope will be a fulfilling short season played during the "Fall 2" window the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association created in hopes of getting in some sports that could not be played this past fall due to virus concerns.

Low- and moderate-risk outdoor sports like soccer, field hockey, golf and cross country were played in the fall with rule modifications — with most considering the seasons a relative success given the daunting challenges.

Then the MIAA went ahead with indoor sports like basketball and hockey starting in December as virus rates surged across the state. Once again, despite various postponements and myriad late schedule changes when an outbreak or close contact quarantine requirement sidelined a particular school, most teams got in 10 to 12 games in a season that wrapped up this weekend.

Other than possibly wrestling, however, no sport faced the hurdle that football did in being granted permission to take the field at some point this school year. Yet, with virus rates steadily declining across the state, the MIAA Board of Directors gave the full-contact sport the go-ahead three weeks ago to take a shot at a season.

"I am fueled, and our staff is fueled, in that when we got the final green light to start this thing the reaction from the kids was effervescent," Newton North coach Nick Capodilupo told Patch. "One kid came up to me and said: "Coach, I never thought this was going to happen. If we play one game, it will all be worth it.'"

Huge thanks to the Danvers DPW for clearing the stadium. Hope our players understand how lucky we are to have our facilities and to have a town that goes the extra mile for us! Conditioning on the field tomorrow @ 10! #falconpride pic.twitter.com/XaiHpDFxc1
— Danvers Football (@DanversFootball) February 16, 2021

While conferences have yet to schedule games there could be as many as five or six in the season that will conclude on April 24. Practices also start Monday in indoor track, competitive cheer and for girls volleyball, girls swimming and other sports that were not allowed to play in the fall because of high community virus rates.

In a sport like football, which is all about schedule and routine, flexibility will be a big part of playing as much as possible over the next two months.

"We all get it," Danvers athletic director Andrew St. Pierre told Patch. "Each community has dealt with the effects of COVID one way or another. We went through it in the fall and it went well. Schedules are amended, venues are flipped, opponents change, it's all part of it.

"We all know the season could be cut short tomorrow so we do what we can today to get these games in. All any AD wants is for his or her student-athletes to have the opportunity to play and compete in a safe environment."

Practice begins Monday with the first of three no-pad days with helmets only just like it would in August. Thursday is the first day of "limited contact" practice with pads and tackling sleds. Saturday is the first day of full-contact practices.

Games could begin by the end of the third week.

"Whether it's the first day or the last week we all know this could all change in a heartbeat," Capodilupo said. "We are not going to be trying to recreate a typical football season. It's more like these are all the elements we have to work with and this is how we are going to use them to create a positive experience."

Most of the big changes will come to how the players and coaches prepare for workouts and games. Use of the locker room remains limited, and while a change to state guidelines allows for indoor practices in gyms or fieldhouses if the weather necessitates, the social distancing requirements make those more of a last resort for larger programs than a primary option in the winter cold.

"There is a tremendous amount of planning required just to have a practice," Capodilupo said. "But it is not our place to be complaining about the constraints. We are so thrilled to have this opportunity and we really want to make it right."

The games themselves will have relatively few rule modifications. While players will have to wear masks, be spaced out on the sidelines and are prohibited from huddling in a circle, gameplay was left largely intact.

The reason being that once tackling was allowed, any minor adjustments to how players line up to start a play become largely insignificant.

"The football looks like football — on paper, anyway," Capodilupo said.

Now Mother Nature needs to cooperate pic.twitter.com/Dzq9VR2O3m
— PVMHS Tanner Athletics (@TannerAthletics) February 18, 2021

And, with that, Capodilupo said he understands whether to participate this year is a decision each family has to make carefully.

"If you're not comfortable with your child playing football this year," he said is the message, "we totally respect that and hopefully see you down the road."

Yet, for the players and coaches who will return to the field on Monday, the long road of dealing with all the things they were told they could not do in the 11 months since the onset of the pandemic will finally lead to the destination of something they can finally do again.

"It's been pretty wild," Capodilupo said. "Everybody's been watching, and waiting, and now all of a sudden here we go."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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