The morning after the New York State Public High School Athletic Association announced all football, volleyball and cheerleading seasons would be moved to march, some mid-Hudson Valley athletes learned the fall season would be postponed entirely.

Section 9, one of the state’s 11 geographic sections for high school athletics, announced Thursday it would not hold competitions until at least Nov. 30 with the start of the winter season. Instead, fall sports at member schools in Dutchess, Ulster, Orange and Sullivan counties will be have a truncated season beginning in March.

The news came as most schools in the region welcomed students back for the fall semester by continuing remote learning, rather than reopening classrooms.

And though the news ended hopes of hitting the field in the next two months, it didn’t come as a surprise.

“As plans continued to change and nothing seemed concrete, I slowly began to worry,” Red Hook High School girls soccer coach Jason Pavlich said. “But I understand that this put the districts in a difficult position. If kids aren’t in the school building, it’s hard to justify them being outside on the school fields playing sports.”

That was part of the rationale Section 9 used in making its determination Thursday morning.

►NYSPHSAA moves football, volleyball, cheer seasons to March

►Coaches eagerly await Section 9’s Thursday ruling on the start of fall sports

►NYSPHSAA delivers return-to-play guidelines to member sections

►Section 9 fall sports may be delayed until November

An 18-person athletic council voted to postpone the start of sports and create a season that will run from March through April. That will be followed by a spring season from May to June. Exact start dates are to be determined.

The sports impacted include boys and girls soccer, field hockey, football, volleyball, cross country, girls swimming, cheerleading and girls tennis.

Scholastic sports have been on hold since March amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. Andrew Cuomo this summer granted permission for some sports to resume Sept. 21, but decisions of when to start were left to the individual sections.

“The safety of the students and the fact that so many of our Section IX school districts are conducting all classes via remote learning” were the determining factors, Section 9 Executive Director Greg Ransom wrote in a press release.

On Wednesday, the state announced the postponement of all football, volleyball and cheer competitions to start no earlier than March 1. Those sports, as it pertains to the coronavirus, are considered “high risk” by the state Department of Health and Cuomo said they would be delayed indefinitely.

Section 8 of Long Island opted two weeks ago to delay all its sports until January. Section 1, which includes other Dutchess schools, as well as those in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam, last week announced its fall season would begin Sept. 29.

Burke Catholic senior Ryan Manna had two sports moved to the spring. Manna is one of Section 9’s top returning soccer players and a 2019 Varsity 845 first-team midfielder. He also kicks for Burke Catholic’s football team and won a game with a late field goal last season. 

“There’s disappointment in it (the decision),” said Manna, who had 17 goals and 32 assists as a junior. “But at least now, we have an answer. We’re not sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for one. Now, we can just take the time and move forward.

“Part of me is OK with knowing when the time comes I have to prepare myself. But, the other part of me doesn’t like it because I want to play.”

Spackenkill athletic director Marco Lanzoni said although he is disappointed a normal fall season couldn’t be held, he was in full support of Section 9’s decision.

There are benefits to holding off, including giving coaches and athletes additional time to prepare, Lanzoni said. Those months also will allow officials and administrators to better determine if the spread of the virus worsens or subsides, and how to react accordingly.

“It gives schools time to see how things play out, as far as kids being in school,” Lanzoni said. “Hopefully, schools do well with their procedures in limiting the spread of COVID and this plan will give ample time to test those systems. Starting Nov. 30, we’ll have a pretty good idea on how things are progressing with bringing students in the building and how the virus is hopefully not being transferred.”

The move to spring also is welcomed, some coaches said, because it increases the likelihood of their teams having a season at all. But they did warn the move wouldn’t be without its challenges.

“The girls might have to be at the first practice with shovels in hand,” Pavlich said. Red Hook is among a handful of Dutchess County schools that doesn’t have a turf field. “The spring sports normally have a lengthy preseason of three or four weeks, so if the first couple weeks are spent indoors, it’s not as critical. But with the condensed season, we’d be playing games sooner, so weather would definitely be a concern. The beginning of March might be a cold start, literally and figuratively.”

The NYSPHSAA announced earlier this summer the cancellation of its state and regional tournaments for fall sports. Despite the move to the spring, those championships still are off. The organization said, however, its winter and original spring sports tournaments still are scheduled.

Rhinebeck last fall went undefeated and captured the state Class C boys soccer championship. The Red Hook girls soccer team, a perennial contender that reached the Section 9 Class A final last season, was expected to go far this year with the bulk of its core returning.

The possibility of a state title being removed is “disheartening,” Pavlich said, but the athletes being assured of a season – well, as close to an assurance as there can be now – offers a light at the end of the tunnel. It should also be incentive for them to take seriously their individual training.

Section 9 is permitting offseason workouts to begin Sept. 21, with the decision left to each district, so long as they follow the state guidelines on safety and social distancing.

“My hope is that the offseason workouts are permitted locally to allow my players some outlet for structured activity before the beginning of March,” Pavlich said.

After an abrupt departure from their routine last spring, and lingering uncertainty about a return to normalcy, “it was killing them,” Shawn Stoliker said of his Millbrook volleyball team.

“They couldn’t play, couldn’t meet or even see each other, and that took a toll,” the coach said. His daughter, Julia, is a sophomore on the team. “At home, her demeanor had changed, and she wasn’t her usual energetic self. It’s been difficult for a lot of kids.”

Julia Stoliker and a few of her teammates did eventually join a Connecticut-based volleyball club, which hosted 2-on-2 grass tournaments this summer. That, Shawn Stoliker said, provided them a morale boost. Now, the volleyball season being moved to the spring, he said, was “the best bet” to assure the games could be played.

Lanzoni said he met with Spackenkill Union Free School District superintendent Paul Fanuele, and they have discussed starting practices on Sept. 21. Spackenkill recently installed a new turf field and upgraded its athletic complex.

“We have that new athletic facility and turf field,” he said. “Following the guidelines NYSPHSAA put out, I’d love to get our coaches and athletes together to start working in the offseason for March 1.”

A.J. Martelli: amartelli@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-437-4836, Twitter: @AJ_Martelli; Stephen Haynes: shaynes@poughkeepsiejournal.com; 845-437-4826; Twitter: @StephenHaynes4

Sal Interdonato of the Times Herald Record contributed to this report.