Dixie State postpones football season until the spring

Fans at a Dixie State University football game, St. George, Utah, date not specified | Photo courtesy of DSU Athletics, St. George News. File Photo

ST. GEORGE — Dixie State announced Wednesday morning that they would be postponing their football season until the spring of 2021 due to the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on college athletics. The Trailblazers were scheduled to make their Division I Football Championship Subdivision debut as an independent team this season.

In this 2019 file photo, Dixie State football beats Adams State on senior day, 35-10, St. George, Utah, Nov. 16, 2019 | Photo by Ryne Williams, St. George News

The season had previously been scheduled to kick off against Southern Utah University on Sept. 5, but with a large majority of FCS conferences postponing football until the spring – including the Big Sky Conference of which SUU is a part – Dixie State did so as well.

“As difficult as a decision like this is, it is the right call,” Dixie State Athletic Director Jason Boothe said in a press release. “There are so many factors involved, but our top priority that we cannot waiver on is the health and well-being of our student-athletes.”

Boothe said that as their schedule of fall games “evaporated” over the past couple weeks, they tried to get something together so DSU athletes could play.

“But as we went through each option, there were still too many unknowns and big questions,” he said. “While we felt comfortable with playing in terms of the safety of our student-athletes, ultimately, the only thing to do was to postpone to the spring when hopefully we can enjoy a much safer environment.”

As conferences around the country, at all levels of the NCAA, began to postpone or cancel their football seasons, Dixie State was slated to have no home games prior to the Division I announcements. Head coach Paul Peterson said that as more games began to disappear off their schedule, he was proud of how the Trailblazers student-athletes responded to the uncertain times.

“As time has gone by, our options to play have dwindled, despite our university leaders best efforts otherwise,” Peterson said in the press release. “Our student-athlete’s physical and mental health are our top concerns at this time. We will use this semester to develop in the classroom and to continue to serve our community. I hope that the nation can heal, our government leaders can make good decisions and we can all get better as a result these trying times. Go Trailblazers.”

Four of Dixie State’s games were scheduled to be against Big Sky schools while they were also going to play two road games against Missouri Valley Football schools. Their four home games, all against Division II opponents, were canceled prior to the announcement of the season being postponed.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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