There will be touchdowns scored, serves returned, goals celebrated, courses run and putts drained this fall.

As long as individual school districts are comfortable to proceed.

The PIAA, the state's athletic governing body, voted 25-5 Friday to move forward with the fall sports season against the strong recommendation from Gov. Tom Wolf and the state departments of health and education to postpone it until at least Jan. 1 because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The PIAA left the final call to local school boards, who will have to decide for themselves in the coming days whether or not to continue.

“I am not sure many schools will opt out,” said Scott Heinauer, Mars Area High School athletic director and football coach.

Butler Area High School athletic director Bill Mylan had the same take.

“I don't see a ton of schools dropping out,” Mylan said. “I think there will be a few, and as I expressed to our coaches (Friday), we may have some road blocks along the way, but we'll push through it.”

Green light

The PIAA's vote paves the way for fall sports to begin Monday with mandatory practices and heat acclimatization for football.

The first play date for boys and girls golf is Thursday, for girls tennis Aug. 31 and for football, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls cross country and volleyball Sept. 11.

Two weeks ago, Wolf and the departments of health and education announced their strong recommendation to scuttle fall sports until the beginning of next year.

This prompted the PIAA to delay the start of the fall sports season for two weeks to get clarification from the governor's office.

Wolf remained entrenched in his stance, but the PIAA voted Friday without further discussion to continue against the recommendation.

“The board took two weeks to weigh very seriously what their constituents were saying,” said PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi.

Welcome news

The debate to play or not to play has been a polarizing one across the state.

A number of districts throughout the commonwealth have already opted out of playing sports this fall, including Summit Academy in Herman.

But Lombardi said he was confident a relatively small number of schools would choose to abandon sports this fall.

“When we paused two weeks ago, the homework assignment for everybody was to go back and really solicit information from their schools,” Lombardi said. “The information we were provided was there seems to be a large majority of people who are going to participate.”

Most involved in athletics here in Butler County voiced their excitement and lauded the PIAA's decision.

“I'm excited that they are going to let us play,” said Mars Area senior Teddy Ruffner, who is a standout football and baseball player for the Planets. “Most schools are going back in person to some extent, so if we can go to school with people safely, I think we can play safely.”

Teddy had already lost a baseball season in the spring when sports across the state were canceled because of the COVID-19 outbreak in March.

He feared he'd lose another season, this one on the football field where he is one of the top returning running backs in the state.

Friday's vote was a sigh of relief for Teddy, who said he is also not blind to the risk.

“There is risk going anywhere now,” he said. “I think sports have a lot of benefits for kids involved, and if the season would've been canceled, I feel like many kids would've been depressed and anxious.”

Knoch senior volleyball player Quinn Hughes was also delighted with the outcome of Friday's vote.

“I couldn't be happier right now,” Quinn said. “Now that it's up to the schools, it would be hard to imagine that (they) would want to keep their athletes from playing.”

Challenges ahead

There are still a number of questions looming for the PIAA and school districts.

One is liability insurance, which has still not been solved, Lombardi said. The PIAA coverage does not include COVID-19, he said.

Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine have indicated they would not turn their recommendation into a mandate. But the governors' office released a strong statement late Friday afternoon in response to the PIAA vote.

“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,” the statement read. “Every gathering outside the classroom jeopardizes a school's ability to resume in-person instruction because it increases the risk of super-spreading events.”

Slippery Rock Area High School football coach Larry Wendereusz is looking forward to the upcoming season, but questioned how it was handled by both Wolf's administration and the PIAA.

“Seeing them push it to the district has been what this has become,” Wendereusz said. “No one wants the responsibility, liability of the situation.”

Heather Lewis, Seneca Valley High School athletic director, said she is unsure where the district stands on proceeding.

She said at issue is the lateness of the PIAA's decision.

“I think that might be frustrating for some of us,” she said. “The timing. We had hoped for a decision earlier.”

Lombardi did not rule out there being two fall sports seasons — one now and another in the spring — should a greater number of schools than expected decide to postpone.

“If there is a large number of them ... we'll look at alternate solutions for those schools to possibly have a season (in the spring),” Lombardi said.

The PIAA is also trying to convince Wolf to allow spectators at games this fall.

As of now, no fans are permitted to attend. There is also a limit of 25 people at indoor events and 250 people at outdoor events in Butler County.

Mylan said that is one of the many logistical challenges he and Butler will face going forward.

“One thing I'm anxious to see, what's going to happen with spectators moving forward?” Mylan said. “We're going to have to be real creative in how we're going to do things. These were the things we never had to worry about in the past.”

Not everyone shared enthusiasm for the decision.

An area coach, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that although he is happy kids will get the chance to play, he is kept up at night — concerned about playing amid a pandemic.

“I am very worried a kid or two is gonna get sick and die,” he said. “How devastating would that be to the psyche of a community and student body?”

The coach said he is also worried that not enough attention is being paid to the health of teachers, coaches and other school staff who are in a higher risk group for the coronavirus.

“Literally not one word about keeping us and our families safe,” he said.

“I want sports,” he added, “like I want ice cream, nice weather and everything I enjoy, but I am worried about all the people who are yelling, 'I want. I want. I want,' without considering the consequences.”