Practice Begins For Michigan HS Sports On Monday
Teams participating in all nine sports for which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors postseason tournaments – featuring more than 100,000 student athletes statewide – will be allowed to begin practice Monday, Aug. 9, and with a return to traditional schedules and MHSAA Tournament formats after COVID-19 resulted in various adjustments for the Fall 2020 season.
Postseason competition in cross country, football, golf, tennis and swimming & diving will revert to their customary formats this season, with all fall sports scheduled based on their traditional calendars other than beginning practice with a common start date for the first time.
For most of the MHSAA’s modern history, football teams had begun practice Monday of the first week of the preseason, followed by the rest of fall teams two days later.
Football teams still must have 12 days of preseason practice at all levels before their first game, over a period of 16 calendar days before the first kickoff, with the first varsity games this fall scheduled for Aug. 26 and the weekend of Aug. 27-28. Competition this fall may begin Aug. 16 for golf and tennis teams and Aug. 18 in cross country, soccer, volleyball and swimming & diving.
One of the most anticipated sport-related changes for Fall 2021 is the full implementation of the “enhanced strength-of-schedule” format for selecting the 256-team field for the 11-Player Football Playoffs. The new format eliminates automatic qualification based on win total and bases it solely on playoff-point average, which also is determined differently in that it now awards teams more for playing tougher schedules. (Click for a more detailed comparison of the previous and new formats: https://link.edgepilot.com/s/896c94bf/ed35LYSISUaxtA1ad_GYWQ?u=https://www.mhsaa.com/portals/0/documents/FB/Adjusted%2520SOS%2520Table.pdf.)
The new playoff-point formula was used in 2020 to seed teams at the District and Regional levels, but its use for qualification was put on hold as COVID-19 caused a one-season switch in playoff format that allowed all teams to qualify.
Additional rules changes in cross country, football, golf and tennis will be most noticeable this fall:
The 2021 Fall campaign culminates with postseason tournaments beginning with the Upper Peninsula Girls Tennis Finals during the final week of September and wraps up with the 11-Player Football Finals on Nov. 26 and 27. Here is a complete list of fall tournament dates:
Cross Country U.P. Finals – Oct. 23 L.P. Regionals – Oct. 29 or 30 L.P. Finals – Nov. 6
11-Player Football Selection Sunday – Oct. 24 Pre-Districts – Oct. 29 or 30 District Finals – Nov. 5 or 6 Regional Finals – Nov. 12 or 13 Semifinals – Nov. 20 Finals – Nov. 26-27
8-Player Football Selection Sunday – Oct. 24 Regional Semifinals – Oct. 29 or 30 Regional Finals – Nov. 5 or 6 Semifinals – Nov. 13 Finals – Nov. 19 or 20
L.P. Girls Golf Regionals – Oct. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 Finals – Oct. 15-16
Soccer Boys L.P. Districts – Oct. 13-23 Boys L.P. Regionals – Oct. 26-30 Boys L.P. Semifinals – Nov. 3 Boys L.P. Finals – Nov. 6
L.P. Girls Swimming & Diving Diving Regionals – Nov. 11 Swimming/Diving Finals – Nov. 19-20
Tennis U.P. Girls Finals – Sept. 29, 30, Oct. 1, or 2 L.P. Boys Regionals – Oct. 6, 7, 8 or 9 L.P. Finals – Oct. 14-16
Girls Volleyball Districts – Nov. 1-6 Regionals – Nov. 9 &11 Quarterfinals – Nov. 16 Semifinals – Nov. 18-19 Finals – Nov. 20 |