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Dr. Mark Bazell and the Pike County Board of Education approved a plan for Goshen and Pike County High Schools to play only region games during the 2020 football and volleyball season.

The plan was approved during a board of education meeting on Monday evening,

“First and foremost, we want to keep our kids safe,” Bazell said. “We want to honor our commitment to play region games because those are the ones that have barring for the playoffs. Number one factor is safety.”

The move means that the annual cross-county showdown between Charles Henderson and Pike County has been canceled.

“It was something that both schools wanted,” Bazell said. “They contacted us first about changing the location and then about canceling it all together. That was a preseason game and I just think playing a region-only schedule gives us the best chance to compete.”

Transportation for road games was also discussed at the meeting on Monday. Pike County Schools will provide extra busses for the football team for road games. Band and cheerleaders will no longer travel for road games during the 2020 season.

“Normally we transport our football team on one or two busses, but we are going to add additional busses to make sure we can social distance ourselves on the buses,” Bazell said.

The AHSAA sent a memo to the Alabama Department of Public Health stating fans will be allowed at fall sporting events in the fall. Pike County Schools will allow fans this season, but it may be at 50 percent capacity.

“We are going to look at the seating capacity in the stadiums and maybe having spectators at 50 percent capacity,” Bazell said. “Not sure what that capacity is, but we will be doing some measurements.