Citing not enough officials available to work Friday, the Georgia High School Association on Monday moved all Class 4A and Class 2A playoff games to Saturday. Playoff games in the other six classifications remain scheduled for Friday.
It’s not uncommon in recent years for a few regular-season games to be moved to Thursday or Saturday, allowing officials to work multiple days and alleviating the growing shortage of game officials in the state.
The first round of the playoffs, though only 128 games instead of the roughly 175 for a typical regular-season Friday night, become an added challenge because of additional steps, including camp attendance and certain courses, that officials must take to become qualified to call playoff games.
The numbers of officials are also down slightly this season for those opting out because of COVID-19 concerns, the GHSA said.
GHSA also said it would establish a rotation of classifications playing on Saturdays for future first rounds.
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