Right now it appears that fall sports in Oklahoma High Schools will take place this year pretty close to the normal situation.

However, the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association last week made plans for contingency situations where schools find themselves cancelling games or activities due to concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The agency came up with the protocols for those kind of situations during a meeting late last week. The OSSAA board voted unanimously in favor of the adopted plan.

OSSAA Executive Director David Jackson was quoted as saying that he hoped that fall activities will proceed as scheduled. But he acknowledged that additional closures and postponements could occur. The OSSAA board responded to the possibility that such closures and/ or postponements might take place.

Under the amended policy, the schools involved should make every effort to reschedule any postponed nondistrict contest. But they may choose to cancel completely if rescheduling is not possible.

If a district contest is postponed, participating schools should attempt within 48 hours to agree on an alternate date to play the game before the postseason. Football, Class 2A to 6A fast pitch softball, soccer, dual wrestling and Class 6A to 2A spring baseball are sports in which the outcome of district games determines postseason seeding.

Should it be impossible to reschedule district games, the amended policy says that won-lost percentage will determine the order of advancement and marginal points will not be used to break ties between tied teams. If two or more teams are tied for the highest playoff position, it will go to the team that won over the other tied teams. If head-to-head results do no break the tie, it will be determined by lot. After the highest playoff position has been determined, the next-highest position goes to the team that won over the remaining tied teams. If this method is again not sufficient, the next highest position will be determined by lot.

The procedure for determining playoff positions by lot will be set later.