Guidelines, capacities set for SC high school football championship games
The sites for the state football championships were announced earlier this month. On Wednesday it was revealed how many people will be allowed to attend the December games.
S.C. High School League commissioner Jerome Singleton, during Wednesday’s executive committee meeting, said the fan capacity will be around 1,850 at each of the games being held at Spring Valley High School. Around 2,000 can attend at the games at Benedict College. The reduced capacity is because of COVID-19 restrictions.
The Class 2A and 3A games will be at Spring Valley; Class 1A, 4A and 5A will take place at Benedict.
Each site will host a game Dec. 4, with Benedict hosting two games Dec. 5 and Spring Valley one. Singleton said they will announce next week which classes will play on which days. The stadium and parking lot will be cleared out between the two games at Benedict on Dec. 5.
Each championship finalist will get 700 tickets to sell.
The S.C. Independent Schools Association is hosting its football championships this weekend at Charleston Southern University with Class 3A on Friday and Class A and 2A on Saturday. Capacity for those games will be 1,000.
Singleton also talked about the sites for March basketball championships, which are typically held at Colonial Life Arena but won’t be this season. Florence Center has offered to host the games, which would be likely spread over four days, according to Singleton.
Florence Center and Bon Secours Wellness Center in Greenville have typically hosted the Upper and Lower State championships, but those games will likely be held at the on-campus sites of one of the two participating teams, according to Singleton.
Notes
▪ The site of the SCHSL Competitive Cheerleading championships will be at the Florence Center next month. Singleton said the league is working on the possibility of having fans in attendance.
▪ The SCHSL Executive Committee passed a motion to push back the first game from baseball and softball season until March 15. Practice will still begin Feb. 1. First scrimmage will be Feb. 22 with preseason tournaments beginning March 5. Before the changes, the first scrimmage was Feb. 8 with preseason tournaments starting Feb. 26. The start of the playoffs also will be pushed back from April 27 to May 15. Championship series will be June 1-5.
▪ Like fall and winter sports, spring sports playoffs also will be shortened by a round with top two teams from each region as automatic qualifiers. Class 1A, 2A and 4A have some at-large bids because of uneven amount of regions in those classes.
2020 S.C. FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Which teams play where are is yet to be determined
Spring Valley High School (Class 2A and 3A)
- 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4
- 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5
Benedict College (Class A, 4A, 5A)
- 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4
- 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec 5
- 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec 5
This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 10:47 AM with the headline "Guidelines, capacities set for SC high school football championship games."
