While players, coaches and fans rallied early Monday morning outside the state capitol asking leaders to ease the guidelines for athletics to get back on the field.
Secondary School Activities Commissioner (SSAC) Bernie Dolan over the week announced a major COVID protocols announcement.
Schools now in the orange can only workout to condition athletes and are prohibited to practice with any contact. Previously, teams could still have contact practice but not participate in games.
In other matters:
SSAC officials will now ask the state to allow grandparents to attend games, something which has not been allowed to date.
Dolan said anytime a recommendation is made several people must sign off on the approval, including Gov. Justice and Department of Health and Human Resources personnel.
Competitions in all sports can only be held for teams that are in the green and yellow categories.
Also, while some high school football teams may be able to get a complete 10-game regular season schedule in, others would be extremely fortunate at this point to play half a season.
In a typical season, teams must play in a minimum of eight games to be eligible for the playoffs. That requirement was waived this season. A new minimum number of games to qualify for the postseason will be discussed by the SSAC this week.