J.D. Dessicino can discern the bellows of just one person in the stadium bleachers when he plays football Friday nights.

Everything else is just white noise.

“The only thing I hear from the stands is my mother cheering me on,” said J.D., a senior running back for the Moniteau High School football team.

J.D., however, may not be able to hear his mother's shouts of encouragement, no matter how hard he listens this season — a year that will undoubtably be unlike any other.

With a limit of 250 spectators for outdoor gatherings set by Gov. Tom Wolf and the state Department of Health because of the COVD-19 pandemic, attendance will be severely curtailed at high school football games this fall.

At least for the time being.

“My family is upset about the restrictions of fans at games,” J.D. said. “They're staying hopeful that it changes soon.”

It just might.

A big step toward a major change occurred Wednesday afternoon when House Bill 2787 was passed by the state Senate 39-11.

The bill, should it become law, will empower individual school districts to determine how many spectators will be permitted at games, if any.

Wolf has 10 days, starting Thursday, to either sign or veto the bill.

Should he issue a veto, the bill would first go back to the House, where it originated and passed by a veto-proof margin of 155-47, and then to the Senate.

Bringing games to you

With strict limits on how many people can be in a stadium or gym, schools have had to find other ways for parents and fans to see games.

The most popular way is to bring the action right into their living rooms or mobile devices.

Butler Area High School decided to go with the NFHS Network, which is a subscription service run by the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Butler got a deal. For just $2,500, the school received two cameras — one will be installed at Art Bernardi Stadium where football and soccer games are held this fall, and one will be in the high school gymnasium.

The catch is the district had to sign a five-year contract and will not receive any revenue from subscriptions for three years.

It was worth it, said Butler athletic director Bill Mylan, who researched the service thoroughly.

Trinity and Penn Trafford began using the NFHS Network last year.

“They paid much more than we did,” Mylan said. “It was a heck of a deal.”

The NFHS Network charges a subscription fee of $10.99 per month or $69.99 per year.

The two cameras are automated, so no one from Butler will need to control them.

Other schools are taking the social media approach, using various services like Facebook Live, Periscope or YouTube.

Anything to allow more people to see the games.

“My parents have taken it in stride,” said Meghan Lucas, who coaches the girls volleyball team at Butler and is a parent of a senior player, Sophia. “They're thinking of creative ways,” she said. “They plan on tailgating and watching it on the big screen. I'm proud of the way they are handling it.”

Volleyball challenges

With a limit of 25 for indoor gatherings, just playing a volleyball match has become a logistical conundrum for area schools.

Quite simply, 25 is too low a number, some school officials and coaches say.

“That's going to be tough,” said Freeport volleyball coach Tom Phillips, who in his 20 years on the bench has never seen anything like this. “It's a different world.”

And a different volleyball atmosphere.

“Volleyball coaches are pretty tight in this area, so we've been talking since June,” Lucas said. “How are we going to do this?”

Here's what they are doing:

Chairs are staggered and arranged several feet apart for the players on the bench. They have to wear masks until they enter a match. There's no switching sides and line judges are now optional, although most schools will still use them.

Scrimmages last week were the first time teams had a chance to test out the changes.

“I told my kids, 'Go find your island,'” Lucas said, chuckling. “They have paper lunch bags they all decorated. That's their mask bag because you can't give it to anyone to hold or put it on your chair. They don't high-five when they go into a game. They tap their feet.

“It was a little weird,” Lucas added. “The usual routine you have before a match you don't do.”

Knoch's Diane Geist, who has been coaching volleyball for three decades, has had to get creative.

“We had a girl hurt and she had to sit in the hall (during a scrimmage),” Geist said. “My husband, who is the trainer, sat in the hall.”

The Knoch and Freeport volleyball teams, which each won a state title in Class 3A and 2A, respectively, in 2017, often had a big crowd of students cheering them on at home matches.

Not this season. At least for now.

“We've always had a really nice student section, so we're missing that,” Geist said. “Our gym is big and 25 people is nothing. It's really disappointing. But, as long as we get to play.”

Moniteau coach Ashley Rumbaugh also lamented the lack of atmosphere that will be at games this fall.

“The 25 people restriction is going to be hard and will take away, in my opinion, a valuable part of sports, and that's the fans and the noise and the exhilaration of the noise,” Rumbaugh said. “But our school is trying their best to accommodate a few parents here and there as permitted by the restrictions. It will be a different kind of season, but one we will get through.”

All fall sports teams, though, are just happy to have a season to play.

Fans or not.

“My only complaint, and this is so first-world problems, is trying to project to a group through a mask,” said North Catholic coach Amanda Fetter. “If that's what I have to do to get them to play, I am on board. I'm all in.”