But as the superintendent at Southwestern, Donahue knows schools must keep their priorities straight.

That doesn’t mean she’s given up on interscholastic athletics returning to area schools this fall — even football.

“Our first priority needs to be opening schools safely,” Donahue, Section VI Athletic Council president-elect, said Friday evening. “I think if we can get schools opened safely, then we need to start looking at athletics along with other extracurriculars.”

The New York State Public High School Athletic Association got the ball rolling for fall sports earlier this month when they said the season will begin Sept. 21.

OBSERVER File Photo Silver Creek’s Hunter Larson hurdles a defender during a football game last season.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo reinforced that decision Monday during his daily press briefing when he agreed with the Sept. 21 start date for lower- and moderate-risk sports.

“In the last couple of months, I’ve been trying to stay optimistic,” Section VI football co-chairman Jay Sirianni said Friday evening. “When the governor came out Monday, I looked at it as not being bad news. It gives us hope, I guess. There’s a possibility that some kids and some sports are going to be able to play.”

While it was good news for most sports, it left football and volleyball wondering what will come next.

“It could’ve been worse,” Sirianni added. “They could’ve said no sports until January.”

On Friday, NYSPHSAA’s section executive directors held a video teleconference. NYSPHSAA said its COVID-19 Task Force will meet Monday and the governing body is working on a document to distribute to schools by next Friday detailing what is needed to return to sports Sept. 21.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” NYSPHSAA said in a prepared statement.

Now football programs around the area are waiting for more guidance. During his address Monday, Cuomo said higher-risk sports can begin practicing Sept. 21 in individual, no-contact settings, but gave no timeline for returning to contact and competition.

“Ken Stoldt (Section VI football co-chair) and I talk every day. We have a plan,” Sirianni said. “We’ve started working on a plan to get a season in. We can’t guarantee playoffs if it goes too late, but the optimal thing remains to play football in the fall.”

States across the country have begun playing high school sports. Indiana began last weekend and Ohio is playing this weekend. Across the border in Pennsylvania, football games are on schedule to begin Sept. 11 without any setbacks.

“That’s encouraging, that some states are starting to play,” Sirianni said. “That’s one advantage we have. We can look at schools around the country, see what’s working and what’s not working. Hopefully we don’t make the same mistakes. … There are other variables, but it’s encouraging that other states have started to play.”

Sirianni also has an extensive background coaching football at Southwestern, including a pair of state titles with the Trojans. He doesn’t envy the current crop of coaches, but knows they’ll be ready if and when a season is slated to begin.

“From a coaching standpoint, you really are going to be in base offenses and defenses. Unless you have a veteran team, it’s going to be tough to get a lot installed,” he said. “You are just trying to keep it simple. Those guys are ready to go and the kids are ready to go.”

Another obstacle may be conditioning. As of now, coaches are not allowed any organized gathering with their players, including in the weight room. That looks like it will continue until at least Sept. 21.

“You can’t start school and immediately go into sports,” Sirianni said. “Those kids are going to need to get after it. I think you are going to see a lot of athletes who aren’t in peak performance shape, but they’re young athletes and they’ll come around pretty quickly.”

As far as a condensed schedule goes, Sirianni said he and Stoldt already have the orginal eight-game schedule prepared and it can largely remain intact even if it’s pushed back a few weeks. Problems arise with schools that were supposed to play out of state or against Section V (Rochester-area) schools because state guidance may not allow that if football does indeed return.

“Once you change one game, there is a ripple effect,” Sirianni said. “It starts affecting other games so we’ll see how we are going to adjust. We are coming up with ideas and we talk every day. When they give us that go-ahead and tell us we can do it, we’ll be ready to get right after it.”

“We anticipate further guidance from NYSPHSAA this (coming week),” Donahue said. “They started talking about getting kids back and starting conditioning … getting into a schedule that’s safe and easing back into this to be sure that we do it right.

“I think we’re all trying to stay as optimistic as possible for the kids,” Donahue added. “The first two weeks of school, if we can open up safely, it will be a good gauge for us for how to proceed opening up more, which means adding athletics back.”