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Football, volleyball approved for fall

Independent file photo Marshall’s Jordyn Hilgemann goes up for a kill during their Section 3AA tournament match against Worthington on Oct. 24, 2019.

MARSHALL — High school football and volleyball teams will get their turn to play sooner than they thought.

Nearly seven weeks after originally voting to postpone the football and volleyball seasons to the spring, the Minnesota State High School League board of directors reversed its decision from Aug. 4 during a virtual meeting that drew more than 400 people tuning in and spanned for more than four hours.

Volleyball, which had failed to start in August by a 10-8 vote, passed this time by a 14-4 decision. Football passed by a 15-3 vote, a huge turnaround from the 12-6 failed vote from August.

The discussion to revisit the decision came after a lengthy board workshop meeting that was held last Tuesday, during which MSHSL board President Blaine Novak called for a special session meeting to be held on Monday morning. Before the meeting occurred, a survey went out to the league’s 500 member schools seeking their thoughts on whether the season should be played in the fall or in the spring of 2021 where it currently had been at. According to board member Gary Revenig, out of responses from 394 schools, 80% wanted to play football in the fall while 76% wanted to have fall volleyball.

There will of course be some significant modifications to the season. Volleyball will begin on Sept. 28, with 10 days of preseason practice. Teams will have an 11-week, 14-match season with competitions starting on Oct. 8. No regular season tournaments will be played, and no fans (essential personnel only) would be allowed due to the current recommendations set by the Minnesota Department of Health.

Football will also have its season begin next Monday. After 10 days of preseason practice, the first games will take place the weekend of Oct. 9-10.

Teams will have a six-game regular season schedule, followed by a two-week postseason and the season ending by Nov. 28. A postseason format is still to be determined. According to MDH guidelines, a total of 250 fans could be in attendance for football games.

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