SOMERSET — There will be a fall high school sports season. It’s just going to be a bit odd as COVID-19 fears continue to cause disruptions.

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association has produced some rules and guidelines and suggestions, the most notable the creation of a fourth high school season for so-called high-risk 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, field hockey, cross country, volleyball, golf gymnastics, swimming and diving, and MSAA dance have all gotten the green light to compete in the fall, but with strings attached in terms of distancing, face coverage and sanitation. In the case of significant contact sports of soccer and field hockey, there are also modifications of some of the very basic aspects of the sport.

“These sports,” said Joe Francis, Somerset Berkley Regional High School athletics director and member of the MIAA COVID-19 task force, “might look very different from what we are used to seeing out there.”

The modifications for all falls sports were announced on Friday.

In field hockey, the most notable change reduces the on-field competitive structure to 7-on-7 (down from 11-on-11); 7-on-7 is not alien to field hockey as this format is used in overtime situations. Penalty corners have been eliminated, replaced by 25-yard hits. On free hits, all players must be at least five yards away.

The restrictions for girls’ and boys’ soccer are extensive and may greatly alter the normal game. They include:

• No heading the ball (results in indirect kick for opposition).

• No intentional body contact with opponent (indirect kick).

• No slide tackling (direct kick).

• No throw-ins (replaced by kick-ins).

• Indirect kicks must be played on the ground.

• No goal kicks may carry in the air beyond midfield (indirect kick).

• No goalkeeper kick, punt or drop-kick may carry in the air beyond midfield (indirect kick).

• No traditional player walls for use to block free kicks. Players must be spaced at least six feet apart.

• No live-ball rebounds on penalty kicks.

For games/meets and practices, athletes must wear cloth face masks or gaiters, though they have liberty to remove them when social distancing permits. Swimmers and diers need not wear them in the pool and cross-country runners may pull them off as they spread from other runners.

Practices will require players staying together in pods of 5-10 and staying in those groups consistently.

The MIAA has 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.

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.