The Georgia High School Association is considering postponing the football playoffs one week to accommodate schools that need to make up games because of Hurricane Helene, executive director Tim Scott said Monday morning. Scott said he hoped to have a decision by noon Tuesday.
“We’re looking into that and working on it right now, trying to figure out what we can do to support our schools and give them some relief,” Scott said. “It’s not just football. Don’t forget we’ve got girls flag football, softball, volleyball, cross country and cheerleading. We’re looking at all of it.”
Postponing the football playoffs is a practical option this season because of an unprecedented playoff bye week over Thanksgiving. The playoffs historically are five rounds in five weeks. This season, for the first time, there is an extra week built in between the third and fourth rounds. It is a schedule fluke associated with the availability of Mercedes- Benz Stadium, which will stage the championship games December 16-18.
The playoffs are scheduled to start Friday, November 8, but could start December 15 and finish on time.
The GHSA is still assessing how last week’s schedule played out. Postponements are still happening. At least four games scheduled for Monday night were called off Monday morning. The schedule damage is not easily compiled since the GHSA’s 415 football-playing schools can negotiate makeup games on their own and report scores later.
According to AJC research, only 16 of last week’s 170 games were played as scheduled Friday night, and 16 were played Wednesday to get ahead of the storm. A record 54 games were moved to Saturday, and another 34 are scheduled for Monday or Tuesday. Six were canceled and won’t be made up.
About 45 games are postponed beyond this week, and about 20 of those are postponed indefinitely.
