*UPDATED 4:30pm 8/13/20*
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If Ohio Governor Mike DeWine allows contact sports this fall, the Scioto Valley Conference Football Championship will be determined by six league games.
A press release issued August 12th by SVC Secretary Dave Warne, stated that a decision to move forward, depends on the Ohio Department of Health.
"As of today, there is a Testing Mandate (Covid-19) from the Ohio Department of Health. As long as this mandate is in place there will be no contact sports. For the SVC that means soccer and football."
"If the mandate is lifted, soccer will be played as scheduled. Football will have a modified schedule. League games will begin Friday August 28. League games will continue through Friday October 2. These six league dates will determine the league championship. October 9th, all SVC schools will be participating in the State playoffs. The seventh league game (October 16 or later if teams still in playoffs) will be optional for schools to play or not."
"As circumstances change, adjustments may need to be made. However, as you are also aware, there are many unanswered questions that will have to be dealt with as time goes on."
Warne continued in the press release to say that other fall sports like volleyball, golf and cross country will proceed this fall. "As far as the other fall sports, the league will go on as scheduled."
One exception would be that the August 15th SVC Volleyball Preview, which is an annual exhibition, has been cancelled.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine says there will be an announcement August 18th in regards to fall sports in Ohio.
During his news briefing on August 13th, DeWine says he and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted have been working with the Ohio High School Athletic Association to make sports safe as possible for students and fans, but there will be guidelines in place.
The governor says he has confidence in coaches to instill safety measures in their student athletes and to stress responsibility.
“But it’s also important what young people do when they’re not playing, when they’re home, when they’re out and about. So, I think having coaches focus on that, we always look to our coaches for leadership, in the era of the pandemic and fighting the coronavirus, is probably their most important job.”
DeWine also stated that there will be restrictions on the amount of fans at sporting events, but it will ultimately be up to schools.
A 9-0 decision by the OHSAA Board to come up with the shortened football season, was looked upon by many as a compromise in order to gain the governor's go-ahead to allow contact sports to be played.
When Tuesday's press conference did not come up with a definitive answer on this topic, it now has school officials, coaches, players and fans looking to DeWine's August 13th press conference as the date where he might declare a final decision for contact sports.
The Frontier Athletic Conference, which is comprised of Chillicothe, Washington CH, Miami Trace, Hillsboro, McClain and Jackson, has reset their football schedule to start with a Week 1 non-conference game, followed by all five of their FAC contests through October 2nd. OHSAA playoffs, which this year allows all football teams to participate, starts October 9th.
Currently, high school football is scheduled to kickoff August 28th.