By: Chris Harlan

Friday, August 21, 2020 | 3:36 PM

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High school football season starts Monday, along with soccer, cross country, girls volleyball and all other PIAA fall sports.

The PIAA board voted Friday to ignore Gov. Tom Wolf’s strong recommendation and let fall sports start as scheduled, but the PIAA left the responsibility with individual school districts to decide whether to play.

The vote was 25-5.

“We know there are no guarantees, but we’re at least making the attempt to try,” PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi said. “If it doesn’t go well and we have to shut down, we’ll do it, because everybody knows the health and safety of everyone is first and foremost.

“But we’re also an athletic association that advocates for young people,” he added. “… We think we owed it to our member schools, our athletes and the coaches, athletic directors, administrators, parents and community to try.”

Football teams can start heat acclimatization Monday. All other fall sports can begin practice that day.

In a separate vote, the PIAA board unanimously agreed to monitor the number of schools that decide to move forward and adjust plans, if needed. The PIAA would consider allowing an alternate fall season in the spring for certain regions, if a large number of teams are unable to compete now.

If so, there would be two fall seasons.

“The board recognized that there may be areas of the state that are shut down for a good period of time,” Lombardi said. “As the board stated all the way back in May, we want to provide as many opportunities for students to participate as possible.”

Pittsburgh Public Schools athletic director Karen Arnold and Hopewell principal Michael Allison were among the five “no” votes. Also in opposition were members who represent school boards, principals and superintendents. Allison, the WPIAL treasurer, is president of the Pennsylvania Principals Association.

Department of Education representative Brian Campbell was one of two members absent. The state departments of education and health support Wolf’s recommendation that youth sports be delayed to prevent potential coronavirus spread.

“While the administration expressed broad concern with the PIAA’s plans, including its request for liability protections, we’ve made it clear to them since July that this decision should be made by the PIAA in concert with local school districts,” Wolf’s spokesperson Lyndsay Kensinger said. “The governor has a deep appreciation for the importance of athletics and the role sports play in the lives of student-athletes.”

But Wolf’s guidance hasn’t changed. He wants interscholastic and recreational youth sports postponed until at least Jan. 1.

“The governor’s recommendation is grounded in public health evidence and a common-sense reaction to league after league cancelling or postponing their fall seasons, outbreaks across the country, growing evidence of higher transmission in children, protecting higher-risk adults, and the fundamentally important need to get kids back into learning in classrooms,” Kensinger said. “Every gathering outside the classroom jeopardizes a school’s ability to resume in-person instruction because it increases the risk of super-spreading events.”

This story will be updated.

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review Staff Writer. You can contact Chris by email at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter .