The signs said it all.

• Let Us Play
• Give Us Our Season.
• Not Just A Sport … A Way of Life.
• We Want Friday Night Lights!
• #SportsMatter

It seems like the student-athletes of the Lansing School District have spoken, and they strongly opposed the board’s decision on Thursday to cancel the fall sports season due to COVID-19.

More than 20 students from all three high schools that make up the district – Everett, Eastern and Sexton – participated in a protest Monday afternoon outside the administration building to voice their frustrations on what transpired.

“The last three months of my junior year were taken away. I feel like I could live with that,” said Everett senior Patrick Ellis, a three-sport athlete who organized the event. “But as far as everything else being taken away, like going back to school in the fall and then the sports, I feel like everything has just taken a spiral downhill. If I can control it, I will try my best to overturn any rules that were made.”

The district’s decision is in opposition to the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s return-to-play plan, where every other district in the state started practice Monday. And that didn’t sit well with Ellis.

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The MHSAA previously stated it would make a final decision regarding the fall sports season no later than Aug. 20.

“So if they do decide to let us play fall sports, then we would be the only exception, and I feel like that’s not fair for everybody that’s been working hard, going to practice the whole time and following rules so we didn’t have to get this far into the COVID,” Ellis said.

“And I feel that protesting, letting our voice be heard, would help overturn the decision. And if the MHSAA decides not to let us play in the fall, I would be fine with that. But as far as right now, everyone else is playing except for us, and I feel like that’s not fair.”

The athletes stood outside in the grass and on the corner of Kalamazoo and Pine streets, holding up signs, chanting “Let us play!” and looking for support from drivers honking their horns. And, when they’d notice administration building workers in the open windows, turn around and flash their signs to get their attention.

“It was a big part of my life,” said D’Zariah Hopkins, a senior cheerleader at Everett. “It kept me out of trouble. It gave me more motivation to do better in school because obviously you had to have good grades to play and stuff like that, and they just took it away.

“Every Friday, it feels like all of us are a family together supporting our school and now we don’t even have it anymore. … You only get to be a senior one time.”

The student-athletes protested from 1-5 p.m. Friday and intend to do so again Tuesday morning as well. Ellis said he reached out to everybody he knew on all his social media platforms to gather support.

“We all just came together, put the competing barrier down and just came out there to try to come at it as a family,” he said.

It’s not just student-athletes protesting. Everett football coach Jaleel Canty and staff members also showed up to offer their support.

“I’m definitely in favor of anything that’s for the safety of our kids and their well-being. But I also tell my players that I’ve got their back and I’ll be there for them,” Canty said.

“It shows their love, care and passion for the game and it shows what it means to them to be a team. A lot of my guys that are out there are seniors. It’s their last go-around, last year they got a taste of success so they were really looking forward to this season. I’m happy that it means something to them.”

Contact digital sports reporter Phil Friend at 517-377-1220 or pfriend@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Phil_Friend.