ROME – Some Rome Free Academy athletes got good news Thursday.

After the Class AA school and Tri-Valley League member’s fall sports season had been delayed for various reasons related to the coronavirus, officials at a Rome board of education meeting Thursday night OK’d some teams to begin practice Monday.

The decision came a few hours after a group of about 30 RFA athletes rallied peacefully – while wearing face masks – in front of the school district building on Bell Road in advance of the meeting.

Senior field hockey player Jace Hunzinger was one of the lead organizers of the event, which was meant to voice the students’ dismay over not being able to get started like most of the other schools in the area. There was a possibility of RFA sports being pushed back again due to a number of factors.

“It is just to show we’re serious about it and not going to let it go,” said Hunzinger, a three-sport athlete who was surrounded by many of her field hockey teammates with signs that said “Let us play!” “We want to be able to practice on the turf.”

Field hockey coach Mackenzie Welter said Thursday night there is happiness after getting approval from Superintendent Peter Blake and board members.

“I’m really proud of my players. The situation has not been easy for them,’ she said. “For them to express how they felt and what they truly believed in, I’m proud of them. I think it takes a lot of guts. They did it the right way. They were responsible and followed the guidelines.”

Sports deemed lower risk under state guidelines — golf, tennis, cross-country, soccer and field hockey – started at other schools in the area on Monday after approval by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association and Section III. Football, along with other activities with a high risk of coronavirus spread such as fall volleyball and competitive cheerleading, were postponed to March 1. Swimming and diving teams in the area have postponed the season until the same time.

Hunzinger and the field hockey team had been having captains practice on Wednesday when they were told a possible decision was looming for RFA fall sports..

“We very disappointed (about the delay),” Hunzinger said. “We were supposed to start and were all excited. Then they said they’re pushing it back a week (to Sept. 28), so then we were definitely disappointed.”

RFA senior Liliana Ferrucci said Thursday there had been a feeling “of something else is about to happen.” They just want to play this fall, she said.

Hunzinger and Ferrucci said the group briefly talked with Blake and board member Tanya Davis on Thursday ahead of the meeting.

“(Blake) just told us they’re doing everything they could,” Hunzinger said.

A handful of smaller schools in the area have postponed sports to the Fall II season, which is scheduled for March 1. Those schools are: Adirondack, Remsen, Waterville, Hamilton, Cooperstown, Sherburne-Earlville and Morrisville-Eaton.