With much of the sports world's attention focused on college football and whether or not the Power Five conferences will continue planning to play this season, TSSAA executive director Bernard Childress said those decisions would have no bearing on Tennessee's high school football plan.
"Of course we're very well aware of what the college conferences are doing, but the challenges they face at that level are totally different than what we're dealing with," Childress said. "That's a completely different environment. For us, we're continuing to stay in touch with the governor's team and the CDC for guidance.
"My best advice to all coaches is to make it very clear to their athletes that they have a responsibility off the field not to congregate in large groups or attend parties or large gatherings. The reports we have gotten back from teams who have had cases tell us that through contact tracing, those cases were linked back to group gatherings of kids away from the team. A major part of whether we have a full season will depend on how everyone follows the social distancing and other guidelines to avoid cases from spreading through their team."
On Sunday night, McCallie announced it had halted football practice for a 14-day quarantine period after having 11 players test positive for COVID-19. The Blue Tornado were not the first program in the state to have their practice schedule affected, and Childress admitted they likely won't be the last. He also said the TSSAA expected to have such cases when it was given clearance by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on July 31 to allow teams to begin having full-contact practices.
"We planned ahead to put procedures in place that will guide all teams on what to do if they have players who test positive," Childress said. "Teams are going to have cases from time to time. That is to be expected, and it's why we put steps in place so that coaches and administrators will know how to handle the situation.
"If a team has so many cases that they are not able to play a game and cannot reschedule it, then their opponent will receive a win. The only games that will have to be played for playoff purposes are the region contests, so those are the ones that teams will do what is necessary to get played."
With that in mind, Boyd Buchanan announced Monday that it will play a region-only schedule for all fall sports - football, girls' soccer, golf and volleyball - at both the varsity and middle school levels. That decision meant the cancellation of four nonregion football games for the Buccaneers, including the scheduled season opener against Tyner as well as contests against Hixson and Lookout Valley.
"It boils down to us playing every other week until we get to our region schedule, and then we'll play each week till the end of the regular season," Bucs coach Jeremy Bosken said. "A six-game schedule isn't ideal, but it definitely beats not getting to play at all. Our administration is trying to stay out front and do what we feel is needed to help make sure we make it to the playoffs healthy."
Chattanooga Christian had already announced its decision to rework the first four weeks of its football schedule, canceling the season opener with McCallie on Aug. 21 as well as nonregion games against Whitwell and Lakeway Christian. The Chargers plan to maintain their nonregion home game against Baylor on Sept. 4, however.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.