High school football starts today in Florida. Who’s starting now and who’s still waiting?
All Champagnat Catholic was waiting on was a date from the Florida High School Athletic Association.
The small private school in Hialeah, with an enrollment of about 130, has reached a football state championship in four consecutive seasons and is not beholden to sweeping decisions made by any district about when and how athletics can begin amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
So when the FHSAA’s Board of Directors voted to allow practices to begin Monday, Champagnat decided it would start even though it didn’t know when most of its South Florida counterparts would be allowed to.
“Once they said the 24th, we said, ‘all right, we’re good. We’re starting,’” Lions coach Hector Clavijo said Sunday. “Competing for a state championship was always a priority. That’s a goal the kids have set, that’s a goal that the school set and this could be year five in a row for us. That’s the goal and it remains that way, so we never considered opting out.”
Practices, like pretty much everything else in society, will look different. Players will wear masks whenever they’re not participating in a drill.
Each drill will have to coaches monitoring — one to coach and one to supervise social distancing. Champagnat has added an extra water station and a sanitation period between drill rotations. The Lions even will have a person at practice whose sole job will be to walk around with a megaphone and enforce social distancing.
While Champagnat will have remote learning for at least the first quarter of the year, Clavijo and the administration decided they were comfortable beginning fall sports, as long as policies like these were in place.
The Lions aren’t alone in starting practice Monday, but the vast majority of schools across the Miami metropolitan area are in a holding pattern with no idea when they’ll be allowed to begin.
Miami-Dade and Broward counties combined to win 7 of 8 football state championships last year — Columbus in Class 8A, St. Thomas Aquinas in Class 7A, Miami Central in Class 6A, Northwestern in Class 5A, Booker T. Washington in Class 4A, Chaminade-Madonna in Class 3A and Champagnat in Class 2A — and all but the last two currently have their 2020 seasons on hold indefinitely.
On Aug. 14, the FHSAA board met in Gainesville and voted to start fall practices Monday with the regular season beginning Sept. 4, and the state series postseason in all sports still beginning and ending on time. Schools will have to decide whether they will opt in to the state-sanctioned postseason by Sept. 18.
Coaches know they’re now powerless and just have to hope the coronavirus situation in the Miami metro area continues to improve to the point the school districts allow athletics to begin sometime in September. If not, alternative measures — like wholesale departures from the FHSAA — could become more realistic options.
“I knew what they were going to do,” Explorers coach Dave Dunn said in a text message Sunday. “I just had to hope that the numbers would go down so the South Florida schools could opt in.”
While most schools across the Miami area await some sort of update on their seasons, a small group of private schools will begin their seasons in the coming days and weeks. Here’s a rundown of who can start early, who is starting early and when they’ve decided to start:
Miami-Dade County
Miami-Dade County Public Schools and its Greater Miami Athletic Conference have not given any update yet on the start of fall sports in the county. The district is currently having all public schools exclusively conduct remote learning and MDCPS plans to reevaluate returning to in-person instruction in October.
The district has declined to say whether athletics would be allowed to begin before in-person instruction resumes.
“A decision has not yet been made,” MDCPS media relations director Jackie Calzadilla said in an email Friday. “We understand the important role that sports plays in the lives of our athletes and are carefully balancing that with our responsibility to safeguard their well being.”
Private schools, however, are not beholden to the district’s guidelines and can begin practicing Monday with at least one notable exception. Columbus is part of the GMAC and will abide by district guidelines.
Here are the currently known plans for non-GMAC schools in Dade County:
▪ Doral Academy: Doral will abide by MDCPS guidelines.
▪ Mater Academy Charter: Mater Academy will abide by MDCPS guidelines.
▪ Belen Jesuit: Practices will begin Sept. 11, but no date is set yet to start the regular season.
▪ Gulliver Prep: Gulliver is beginning early, but no specific dates were given.
▪ Palm Glades Prep Academy: Practices begin Monday and the regular season is set begin Oct. 2 against St. Brendan.
▪ Palmer Trinity: The school will reevaluate the start of fall sports Aug. 30.
▪ Champagnat Catholic: Practices begin Monday and Champagnat is targeting Sept. 11 to start the regular season
▪ Florida Christian: Practices will begin Sept. 8 and the regular season is set to begin Sept. 25 against Somerset Academy Silver Palms.
Broward County
Broward County Public Schools and its Broward County Athletic Association have not given any update yet on the start of fall sports in the county. The district is currently having all public schools exclusively conduct remote learning and BCPS plans to reevaluate returning to in-person instruction every two weeks.
The BCAA has said it expects to announce a plan in the coming days.
Private schools, however, are not beholden to the district’s guidelines and can begin practicing Monday, with some notable exceptions. The Raiders, the defending 7A football champions, and Cardinal Gibbons are among the private schools affiliated with the BCAA and, therefore, following district guidelines.
Here are the currently known plans for non-BCAA schools in Broward:
▪ Archbishop McCarthy: No dates are set yet.
▪ Plantation American Heritage: American Heritage is beginning early, but no specific dates were given.
▪ North Broward Prep: No dates are set yet.
▪ University School: Did not respond.
▪ Pine Crest: The school has suspended fall sports indefinitely.
▪ Somerset Academy: No dates are set yet.
▪ Calvary Christian: Practices begin Practices begin Monday and the regular season is set to begin Sept. 11 against Cardinal Newman
▪ Chaminade-Madonna: Practices begin Monday and the regular season is set to begin Sept. 11 against Venice.
▪ Westminster Academy: Practices begin Monday and Westminster is targeting Sept. 11 to start the regular season.
This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 11:53 AM.
