CIF Southern Section cancels playoffs for football and other fall sports because of coronavirus pandemic

The CIF Southern Section, the largest high school section in the state, canceled its playoffs for football and the rest of the fall sports on Tuesday, Jan. 19 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Citing a desire to create more time for schools to potentially play regular-season games in an increasingly shrinking window for those sports, the section of almost 600 schools followed the game plan of the CIF State, which on Dec. 1 canceled its regional and state playoffs for Season 1 sports. The revised fall lineup of sports includes girls volleyball, boys and girls water polo and boys and girls cross country.

CIF Southern Section commissioner Rob Wigod also cited the difficulty the pandemic has created for the sports calendar as a reason for the cancellation, a decision he called regretful.

“This may be the darkest period we have experienced throughout the 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Wigod said in press release. “These are extremely difficult times for everyone.”

The Los Angeles City Section, comprised mostly of schools from the Los Angeles Unified School District, also announced Tuesday that it won’t hold championships in football, water polo or girls volleyball, and is aiming for late March to host cross country finals.

The regular season for the fall sports is scheduled to begin statewide Monday, Jan. 25, but will likely be delayed again in the Southern and L.A. sections because of the Southern California stay-at-home order.

The order, in response to the recent spike in coronavirus cases, charts ICU capacity at hospitals and applies to Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties and the section’s three northern counties of Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.

UC Irvine-based epidemiologist Andrew Noymer last week estimated that the order could end in mid-February at the earliest.

Once the regional stay-at-home order is lifted in Southern California, athletic programs would be able to compete in sports approved in the state’s guidance, which groups activities into the state’s colored tier system for monitoring the virus. In the Southern Section, all seven of its counties are also in the purple tier (widespread risk) that allows cross country races to begin.

Football, indoor girls volleyball and water polo were all placed by the California Department of Public Health in the orange tier, or allowed once there is moderate risk for the virus. To reach the orange tier, health conditions would have to dramatically improve two tiers, leaving many in the high school scene to wonder if games would be played before the fall window closes. In football, for example, games need to be played before April 17.

“There has not been enough progress made from the purple tier toward the orange tier for football, girls volleyball and boys and girls water polo to even begin competition this season,” Wigod said. “The time remaining in in the fall sports season can now be utilized by our member schools to schedule contests.”

In the Southern Section, the regular season for girls volleyball and boys and girls water polo ends March 20 and March 27 for cross country.

Athletic teams are able to condition or conduct skill training during the stay-at-home order but for some fall coaches and athletes, they may begin to look the spring sports offerings or the fall of 2021.

“I feel bad for our seniors, but it’s time to bite the bullet and plan for the fall,” Don Lugo football coach Greg Gano said. “How are we going to start playing? We haven’t lifted a weight in half a year. We haven’t thrown a football in half a year. Our district has been strict and we’ve followed the guidelines, and it takes about five or six weeks to prepare to play a game, to make it safe and have guys ready and we just don’t have that time.”

The Southern Section said its revised spring schedule remains in place but Wigod said the possibility of holding championships would be re-evaluated in early to mid-April.

Last March, all the spring sports seasons were suddenly canceled as the pandemic began to take a grip on the region. In July, the section countered by delaying the start of its fall sports season from August to December and January.

CIF-SS expected to make announcement about Season 1 sports on Tuesday, Jan. 19 around 9am, here's what Commissioner Wigod said mid-Dec. about playoffs @ocvarsity pic.twitter.com/zk8454pRrb

— Dan Albano (@ocvarsityguy) January 19, 2021

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.