SOMERSET — If the word fluid annoys you, don’t bother following the story about the high school fall season sports in Massachusetts. Progress has been made but much remains to be determined and modified and tweaked.  Yes, you’ll read and hear, it’s a very fluid situation.

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association and many athletics directors, coaches, superintendents, principals, vice principals are trying to salvage high school and middle school athletics for the autumn in these days of COVID-19 fears. The state’s governing body for high school athletics, the MIAA has already produced some rules and guidelines and suggestions, the most notable the creation of a fourth high school season for high physical contact sports — football, competitive cheerleading and unified basketball. This wedge season runs between the traditional winter and spring seasons.

Spring season is now scheduled to run to July 3.

Soccer and field hockey, two other high contact sports, have gotten MIAA approval for fall competition, but that green light may be coming with strings attached in the form of modifications to some of the basic rules of the sports. There is speculation, for example, that head balls and throw-ins may not be allowed in soccer.

“These sports,” said Somerset Berkley Regional High School Athletics Director Joseph Francis, “might look very different from what we are used to seeing out there.”

The modifications are expected to be announced very early in September.

The MIAA has also given individual schools a great deal of flexibility. Schools may look to move a fall sport like soccer and/or field hockey into the wedge season when, perhaps, rules modifications may be lessened or eliminated. Or a change request may just be due to safety concerns in the fall.

Football, unified basketball and cheerleading coaches are allowed to have off-season contact with their athletes (using small groups), with each school determining how often and how long these workouts may be staged.

And game/event scheduling remains very much up in the air. Some schools, like Brockton High (league foe for Durfee), have opted to have no fall athletics at all, and others could follow. Brad Bustin, Durfee’s director of athletics, said he saw tweeted where the Northeastern Conference as a whole has scrapped its fall seasons. Per MIAA rules, school athletics may start practice on Sept. 18, but that does not mean all schools will. Several area high schools are starting their course work in a full-remote mode and may be hesitant to allow on-campus practicing while classrooms remain empty.

The MIAA has said it will not sponsor fall sports post-season tournaments but has said leagues are free to stage playoffs. Schools may also want act independently to stage playoffs in various sports. Twenty-eight District 8 (this region) athletics directors joined in a Zoom meeting this week to discuss forming pods to help facilitate scheduling for the three traditional seasons in 2020-2021.

“Everything’s very fluid right now,” Bustin, who served on an MIAA COVID-19 committee, said early this week. “It’s frustrating. There are a lot of unknowns. We just want to give these kids some kind of athletic experience. But we want it to be safe.”

With the late start to practices, Bustin estimates teams that usually play 18- or 20-game seasons will be looking at about 12 games. And, he said, some leagues may not function as leagues this fall due to the choices each school system makes about athletics. That would leave some schools as independents, scrambling to build a schedule.

“When I get information,” Bustin said, “I’ll just go with it.”

The dates for the now four athletics seasons in Massachusetts are:

• Fall, Sept. 18 through Nov. 20.

• Winter, Nov. 30 through Feb. 21.

• Fall II, Feb. 22 through April 25.

• Spring, April 26 through July 3.

The MIAA has allowed fall competition in volleyball, soccer, field hockey, cross country, golf and gymnastics.

At Joseph Case High School in Swansea, Anthony Palladino doubles as athletics director and head football coach.

“I think the MIAA is doing everything they can to give student/athletes a chance to compete for this upcoming season and that’s great,” he said in a text. “There are going to many challenges daily, but our end goal of giving those athletes a rewarding experience is our priority all while doing our part to keep them safe to the best of our ability. Some days it feels like we are walking a tightrope and every situation is so fluid.”

Taylor Brown, Durfee High’s schools head football coach (and a vice principal), said in a text he’s happy the wedge season will give his team a chance to compete, and he also gave a thumbs up for the off-season coach-player contact.

“There will be many guidelines to follow during the ‘off-season,’” he said. “We will be limited to what we can and cannot do during that time. So we as a staff and a department have to devise a plan to make sure we put a plan forward that will number 1 keep the players safe. Going forward I think they should consider allowing out-of-season contact with your athletes. I can only see this as beneficial to the athletes development.”

Palladino was asked if a dedicated wedge season athlete interested in competing in an allowed fall sport might be torn due to concern about missing out on the offseason football or cheerleading workouts.

“There won’t be any tough decisions for student/athletes at Case High School,” Palladino said. “If a student/athlete wants to participate in a fall sport, that takes full priority. Kids have had a tough summer and this school year will be unlike any other. We are not going to make kids make more tough choices for no reason.

“I am still very torn on out-of-season coaching and there is a good chance Case High School has restrictions on what those small cohort workouts will look like.”

Ethan Robidoux, a Somerset Berkley Regional senior and all-star running back in football, said in a text that some of his football friends are pondering a fall sport and that he himself gave some thought to playing golf. “But,” said the aspiring college football player, “I think it is best I keep working in the weight room to get better. This also gives me a chance to be there more for my teammates before the season begins.”

Concerning the delayed and abbreviated football schedule, Robidoux said he’s dwelling on the positives, the chance to better prepare for the season. “The goal never changes to be the best team we can be no matter the circumstances,” he said.

Bustin also offered some silver-lining perspective to the altered-seasons scenario. “You might have soccer players playing football, kicking 45-yard field goals,” he said.

Email Greg Sullivan at gsullivan@heraldnews.com. Follow him @GregSullivanHN.