It will be Friday night lights out for some Texas high schools, at least to start the 2020 football season.
As reported by The Associated Press, the University Interscholastic League will delay the start of the state's public high school football season for the UIL's largest schools (Class 5A and Class 6A) by a month, as Texas deals with a recent surge of new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
Instead of starting practice Aug. 3, those schools can now start Sept. 7. The first games can be played Sept. 24, a month after the originally scheduled opening weekend.
The UIL said it focused the delay on larger schools as many of them are in the state's largest metropolitan areas, which have been hit hardest by the surge of virus cases.
Texas currently ranks third in the nation in active coronavirus cases.
The UIL's announcement said it also anticipates that not all schools will start at the same time and could face disruptions during the season.
"These adjustments reflect the public health situation at this time and the varying numbers of COVID-19 cases across different geographic areas of the state," the UIL said in its announcement.
