High school teams get back on the field for fall football

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Florida high school football had to wait what felt like forever to begin fall practice, so what's an extra hour's worth of delays due to lightning?

"It is fitting," Clearwater Central Catholic head coach Chris Harvey told FOX 13 Sports behind a mask. "It's football in Florida in August."

"You should be able to adjust to anything at this point in time, right?" echoed Armwood head coach Evan Davis.

It may be the very first practice of the season, but it's also a culmination of another journey.

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COVID-19 closed schools down back in March and since then, there have been months of doubt whether football teams would get back on the field in the fall.

"[I was worried] at the very beginning and then when we were about to crank it back up the numbers started to spike again," Davis said. "You really worry overall about that's going on."

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"I didn't know if we'd be here this early," Harvey said.

As happy as players and coaches are to be preparing for football, there's still no guarantee the season won't get derailed. Instead of worry, however, Davis and Harvey are choosing to just prepare.

"That's what we do," Davis said. "We prepare more than we play so we'll continue to prepare until we're ready to go."