Since the city of Framingham has been considered a “red” designated community with a high number of coronavirus cases, the Flyers won’t be allowed to participate in any athletics until at least the winter season.

Framingham High School will not be participating in sports this fall.

Paul Spear, the school’s athletic director, said that since the city of Framingham has been considered a “red” designated community with a high number of coronavirus cases, the Flyers won’t be allowed to participate in any athletics until at least the winter season.

“All games and practices are off the table once you are given that designation,” Spear said on Wednesday. “The state’s determination is that it’s dangerous based off of what’s going on in the community. It’s off the table for us; it’s not an option to do anything.

“It’s over and done, and all we can do is prepare for a remote sports experience for our kids and plan for a ‘Fall II’ season.”

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association’s (MIAA) board of directors voted on Aug. 19 that fall high school sports would begin on Sept. 18 and end on Nov. 20 without any playoffs. The sports that were deemed safe to play in a season termed “Fall I” were cross country, dance, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, soccer and volleyball.

Framingham won’t play any of those aforementioned sports due to COVID-19 concerns.

“You could start seeing the writing on the wall,” said Spear, who is in his fifth year as Framingham High’s athletic director. “You could see it wasn’t going to come together. … I didn’t find the obstacles to be daunting; I found them to be impossible.”

Natick school committee concerned about safety of high school sports

Athletic directors from across the state have scrambled over the past six-plus months to come up with a plan for fall athletics. The Tri-Valley League, which consists of 12 schools, doesn’t have any red-designated communities and has elected to compete in two separate pods with no fans this fall.

The Dual County League, which has 11 teams, is doing something similar to the TVL while allowing each player to give out a lanyard to one family member or friend so they can attend a live sporting event.

For Framingham, neither was an option. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) stated that districts designated as “red” – based on Department of Public Health metrics – must postpone their entire season, including practices, until the floating season if all high school students were learning remotely to start the school year.

“We have no choice. … We have (zero) kids or teachers in school,” Spear wrote in a text message on Tuesday.

“It’s upsetting,” said Nicolas Matias, a Framingham High senior and boys soccer captain. “But at the same time I kind of expected it due to Framingham being very bad right now with the coronavirus.”

“It’s absolutely devastating,” said Angelo Moutafis, a Framingham High senior and football player. “Everything is so unknown along with winter and spring sports.”

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Football, cheerleading and unified basketball were already moved to “Fall II” for this school year, with that season set to start on Feb. 22 and go until April 25.

Now, Spear and Framingham must come up with a plan for how the Flyers’ cross country, dance, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, soccer and volleyball teams – along with cheerleading, football and unified basketball – will compete in February, since no other school in the Bay State Conference has dropped out of the “Fall I” season like the Flyers.

But Spear is confident that Framingham can link up with other schools from across the state that have also opted out of fall sports.

“I think we can replicate the experience that the kids would get in the fall,” Spear said.

Still, that doesn’t lessen the blow of not having sports at Framingham High this fall.

“The reality is we are in the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic and the state has looked at our community and said it’s not safe to run these programs,” Spear said. “It’s monumentally disappointing for student-athletes, parents and every stakeholder in athletics.

“It’s gut-wrenching to look at empty fields.”

Tommy Cassell is a senior multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tcassell@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @tommycassell44.