New SCHSL Rule

By: Cole Bryson

This past week, the SCHSL issued a new rule that could influence JV football games and when they are played. In the current model, high school sub-varsity games are played on Thursday night, then the following night (Friday) is when the Varsity games are played. The new rule is quoted below.

“Eligible football players who dress but do not participate in the varsity game may play in the sub-varsity game the immediate Monday following the original scheduled varsity game.

Note: The rule currently allows for the player who dresses but does not participate to play in the sub-varsity game the next day. This adds Monday as an option to that rule.

Note: Should the player play in the sub-varsity game Monday, the player would not be eligible for another sub-varsity game in the same week, but could dress and play the following Friday.”

This new rule will have no effect on the Varsity games played on Friday night except for the fact that you can now dress “backups” if you feel that you need the players on the roster. If the “backup” does not play Friday, that player is then eligible to play the following Monday. However, if the player plays one snap on Friday, then that player is not eligible to play on Monday in the JV game. The JV week would then end on Monday, with the new week starting on Tuesday. As the rule states, if a player plays in a sub-varsity game Monday, that player is not allowed to play in another sub-varsity game the same week, but can play the following Friday.

This rule now gives the schools the option to play the sub-varsity games on Monday. Potentially, you could have JV games on Monday, C-Team games on Wednesday or Thursday, then Varsity games on Friday night.

Even though this rule is very clear, it still leaves several question marks around the Upstate. Does it really benefit the school to play JV games on Monday? Also, who is going to monitor whether the kid went in the game on Friday night? The honor system would be my guess.

Talking with several local HS coaches here in Spartanburg County, here were some of the responses I received.

Anonymous Coach 1, “There are still some unanswered questions and missing details. It has the potential to be a positive thing.”

Anonymous Coach 2, “I am not sure how we will handle that. We like being able to dress JV guys on Friday as backups if we play our JV region games on Mondays. I think that regions should discuss and vote on when all JV and C-Teams so all region teams are on the same page and consistent for planning purposes. I would be in favor of playing all region JV games on Monday & probably keeping C-Team games on Thursday.”

As I have talked to several coaches around the Upstate, there are still many questions left in the minds of many coaches. As the school year comes to an end, coaches will begin to meet to discuss this new rule.