It’s already week 3 of the high school football season in Alabama and Tennessee. In Georgia, Florida and more U.S. states, football returned last week, a sign that precautions to lessen the risk of spreading the coronavirus are working.

Pennsylvania is not there yet, but the final hours of the Labor Day weekend also signal a milestone in the PIAA fall sports season. Official practice for football, and actual competition for other fall sports, can finally begin.

“The toughest thing has been, I would say, the natural instincts of sports are to be together as a group. The thing you have to do now is sort of legislate against that,” Middletown boys soccer coach Brian Keyser said.

“It’s sometimes difficult to try and get these guys to remember what they need to be doing but also making sure they enjoy the game and the experience.”

As Keyser noted, making sure coaches put in place all of the school district’s health and safety guidelines was merely half the battle.

The other half is closely monitoring those guidelines, being mindful of social distancing, wearing masks during periods of inactivity, either during voluntary workouts or weight sessions, and the regular cleaning of any shared equipment.

The restrictions certainly have not hindered participation.

“Our numbers in voluntary workouts have been very good. The effort has been tremendous for us,” Keyser said. Middletown will open its season Sept. 29 vs. East Pennsboro.

“I give the guys a lot of credit because we went into it not knowing if we’re going to have a season. The effort they put in is going to make the transition into competition easier.”

The Mid-Penn Conference will have its first golf matches Wednesday. Competitions in girls tennis opens a few days later. The first football Friday is Sept. 25, with heat acclimatization week now open.

It’s been a long road back since March 12, when the PIAA suspended its sports calendar. Despite the imbalance, many coaches and programs have used the “time off” to their advantage.

“We’re actually very pleased, going all the way back to the shutdown when I didn’t even know what a Zoom meeting was,” Lower Dauphin football coach Rob Klock said.

“We really used the time to kind of reinvent ourselves. Quite frankly, we needed to kind of reset and this time really allowed us to do that. We were actually amazed how our kids have handled the whole pandemic element.”

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Klock added that once teams were able to begin voluntary workouts in late-June, his Falcons were more than ready to begin the process of working toward a 2020 season. Competitions, like best hair, kept the atmosphere light and allowed the bond during a difficult and uncertain summer.

“We did have some fun and, honestly, I think things went much better than maybe I was anticipating,” said Klock, who will open heat week Tuesday.

“The kids are practicing hard. It’s been good, but they are excited for Tuesday. They are really looking forward to finally get to hit somebody.”

Follow Eric Epler on Twitter — @threejacker