THOMASVILLE – Sept. 4 remains the starting date for the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) football schedule – for now. But the preseason scrimmages will not happen this year.

On Thursday, the GHSA canceled football scrimmages scheduled for Aug. 21 and Aug. 28.

GHSA Executive Director Robin Hines made the decision following Wednesday’s meeting with the GHSA’s sports-medicine advisory committee. He instructed teams, per the www.ghsa.net website to continue to practice as outlined in previous guidance so athletes and staff will be in a controlled environment. 

But for this year, teams like Clinch County will not have preseason scrimmages prior to start of the regular season.

“As far as a football season is concerned, I’m worried about the last game and not the scrimmage game. With the scrimmage games getting canceled, we just have to adapt to that and figure out the best way we can to prepare for the first game,” Clinch head coach Don Tison Jr. said. “I’m just glad that they are sticking to the regular season and allowing us to play the regular season.

“As far as the scrimmage games getting canceled, obviously we wanted to play it, but it’s not that big of a deal. We just have to figure out a way to get prepared without it.”

This decision also allows the GHSA to re-evaluate the current state of the coronavirus pandemic in a couple of weeks to see if the Sept. 4 starting date will remain. 

The GHSA Board of Trustees voted on July 20 to delay the start of the regular season by two weeks and set Sept. 4 as the opener.