North Carolina private high schools release official plan for return to football, fall sports
The N.C. Independent Schools officially released its plan for fall sports Friday.
“The boys are excited. I’m excited,” said first-year Providence Day coach Chad Grier. “I can’t wait to see the boys play.”
The state’s private schools can begin play the week of Sept. 8 in cross-country, girls tennis and golf.
The week of Sept. 14, field hockey, volleyball and boys soccer will return. Practices for all of those sports are already underway.
High school football practice can begin the week of Sept. 8 and high school football games can begin the week of Sept. 21.
The NCISAA Board of Trustee also adopted an “Alternate Season Option” to allow members schools to play any fall sport from Feb. 22-April 19.
For now, no fans will be allowed into games.
NCISAA schools were made aware of the plan via an email from NCISAA executive director Homar Ramirez on Tuesday night. Ramirez has emphasized throughout that process that “plans can change” as COVID-19 information and numbers fluctuate.
Grier said there are still some questions around football. For now, he’s expecting a seven-game season with playoffs likely beginning in November. But he doesn’t know who the Chargers will be playing yet.
“We’ve just talked all summer about, ‘Win the day’ and ‘Win the situation,’ ” Grier said. “We expect to play Sept. 25 and we don’t know who we’re playing. We think we’ll get the schedule the week of (September) the eighth, so it will be a quick turnaround to game prep. But it’s like everything else this year. It’s fluid and quick.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 4:25 PM.
