How a delayed start to high school sports in S.C. will impact Horry County football teams

As is tradition this time of year, the fall sports calendar for area high schools is up in the air.

In years past, hurricanes and flooding have impacted sports, particularly football, by forcing games to be made up or scrapped altogether. This year, COVID-19 has done its best to ground fall sports, as Horry County student athletes and coaches have not been able to practice or condition as required for performance.

On Wednesday, the South Carolina High School League threw another wrench into things, as it voted to push back the start of fall sports from the end of July to Aug. 17, with games not being allowed until Aug. 31 at the earliest, and some sports having to wait until mid-September to begin competition.

The football season is now scheduled to begin Sept. 11 and will have a maximum of seven regular season games.

Myrtle Beach football coach Mickey Wilson isn’t thrilled with the choice the SCHSL made.

“I was a little disappointed that they didn’t explore the plan that Lexington (School District) 1 put together,” Wilson said. “I thought it had some great points and really had a good chance for everybody to get on the field by playing the low risk sports in the fall and high risk sports in the spring. They really dismissed it without giving it a chance.”

The crux of the Lexington School District 1 plan would use exposure ratings put out by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to reorganize the sports calendar by moving lower risk sports like baseball and softball to the fall, with higher risk activities like football and wrestling in the spring. During Wednesday’s meeting with the SCHSL, the idea was voted down 16-1.

Now, fall sports will be expected to prepare for play after having suspended summer conditioning at the beginning of July.

“I just hope I actually get my guys on Aug. 17,” Wilson said. “It’s (going to be) tough. We didn’t have spring ball, summer conditioning, 7-on-7’s, and we’ll really miss most of July as far as camp. I would say we’re all in the same boat, but there are some areas that are still conditioning and meeting with their teams, so right now we’re falling behind some other areas of the state. I would’ve expected the (SCHSL) to address that.”

During the SCHSL’s meeting, which was live streamed to the public via Facebook, more questions arose than were answered as Commissioner Jerome Singleton gave the plan for returning to play.

As part of the plan for football, teams would begin their slate of games with region play. This would allow for teams to play their most important games in terms of playoff seeding first. Following the region slate of games, teams that do not qualify for the playoffs would have the option to play an additional game against another non-playoff participant.

“That would be tough for a lot of teams in the area,” Wilson said of starting a season with region games. “You work hard all season to get to a place where you’re peaking at region play, so to come out of the gate playing your most important games is a real test.”

In addition to flipping the schedule to play region games first, the playoffs will also be shortened by at least one round, with another round potentially being removed to only allow region champions to make the playoffs and the state finals being played on Nov. 20-21. The SCHSL has not formalized this part of the plan.

“The plan and everything is all fluid,” Singleton said in Wednesday’s meeting. “The main thing is to put something in with some flexibility.”

The flexibility Singleton is looking for would allow the SCHSL to move the fall dates back if needed based on what the public schools are doing regarding instruction. During Wednesday’s meeting, Singleton said multiple times that if face-to-face instruction is to occur, sports must be presented as an option.

The Horry County Schools board voted on Monday to delay the start of the academic school year three weeks to Sept. 8, pushing the scheduled final day of the school year to June 16, 2021.

“I just hope I can get my guys on the field so that my seniors who aren’t going on to play in college can play one last football game,” Wilson said.

This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 1:25 PM.