S.C. High School League extends football regular season, maintains playoff structure post Helene

The South Carolina High School League's executive committee approved a motion Tuesday to extend the football regular season one week while preserving the five-round playoff structure following postponements and cancellations throughout the state due to Hurricane Helene.

The motion, introduced by Cheraw athletic director David Byrd, passed by a vote of 9-5.

That was one of a few potential options on the table, and the executive committee earlier voted against a motion that would have extended the regular season by one week and reduced the playoffs from five rounds to four. That motion, introduced by Kershaw County School District superintendent Harrison Goodwin, failed by a vote of 11-3.

According to SCHSL deputy commissioner Charlie Wentzky, about 66 football games were missed statewide due to the storm's impact, and 36 teams did not play in either Week 6 or Week 7 - Aiken, North Augusta, South Aiken and Strom Thurmond each missed two games, while Blackville-Hilda, Fox Creek, Midland Valley, Ridge Spring-Monetta, Silver Bluff and Wagener-Salley missed one apiece.

Barnwell and Williston-Elko still have their schedules intact - both moved Week 6 games up to the Wednesday before the storm hit, and both were on the road and able to play this past Friday.

Four regions of the 33 in the state, including Region 4-AAAA, missed two weeks of region play and now will have to get creative in terms of fitting those games, which determine playoff seeding, into the extra week of the regular season.

Other regions that missed one or zero games can stagger their schedules as they choose so there's not a layoff heading into the postseason, said SCHSL commissioner Jerome Singleton.

Initial concerns were raised for teams in the Greenville and Spartanburg areas that are just now returning to school and whether they've had ample time to condition and practice for competition, and South Aiken principal Samuel Fuller, the Class AAAA representative on the executive committee, pointed out that seven schools in Aiken County alone still didn't have power - and that North Augusta High School had just gotten power back Tuesday morning.

The main point of contention during discussion was to preserve the current playoff system at five rounds rather than reduce it to four. As it stands, 176 of the SCHSL's 206 football-playing member schools make the postseason. Last year, the average margin of victory in the first round of the playoffs across all five classifications was 27.7 points per game.

Another concern related to pushing back the state championship games, currently scheduled for Dec. 5-7 at South Carolina State University. A potential conflict could arise should S.C. State earn a spot in the Celebration Bowl, which is scheduled for Dec. 14 and could cause staffing issues at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium.

Adding two weeks to the regular season would alleviate those issues, but that idea wasn't on the table for long - that would impact the start of winter sports, which would then carry over into the spring.

Volleyball season received the same treatment, with a motion passing unanimously to add one week to the regular season and keep the playoffs at five rounds. Singleton said the SCHSL and Dreher High School, host site of the girls' state championships, were confident they could still keep the venue the same even if the title dates change. Middle school volleyball's season was extended to Oct. 28 by a vote of 11-3.

Competitive cheer will keep its same dates, but the number of state qualifiers has been reduced from two to one. That passed by a vote of 13-1. Cross country runners will now also need to have competed in one race prior to state qualifiers rather than two, which passed 12-2.

Girls' tennis will add one week to the regular season and maintain its five-round playoff structure, with the motion passing unanimously.

No changes were made to swimming, with the state championships still set for Oct. 15, 17 and 19. Nor were there any made to the girls' golf schedule despite some teams' home courses still not being back open or fully playable. State qualifiers for golf remain Oct. 21.