IHSAA Announces Changes To 2020 Football Schedules Statewide

Friday the IHSAA which governs boys high school sports in Iowa announced changes to the schedule for the 2020 football season. The revised plan calls for a reduction in regular season games. The regular season will be 7 games instead of the previously slated 9. Teams in Class A- 3A will still play their 5 district opponents. Class 4A teams such as Fort Dodge will schedule all of their own games. The IHSAA says their previously announced plan for group format play in 4A will now not be implemented this season. Teams participating in football are mandated to play 5 games and have the option to play as many as 7 regular season contests. Every team in Iowa will make the playoffs under this new plan. Therefore, the playoffs will start October 16th instead of the usual last Friday in October. The IHSAA says the date to officially open practice remains August 10th and the date teams can play their 1st game remains August 27th. The plan also says in the event teams contract covid-19 and miss games those games will not be counted as forfeits, they will be considered a “no contest”  and will not be made up.