The Tolleson Union High School District on Friday decided to move forward with football and the rest of the fall sports with first practice starting on Monday.

Players and coaches haven’t been together on campus since early June for workouts. Most have been working on their own without coaches at parks.

Parents and players were in the process of organizing a rally next Tuesday outside the district building, calling on officials to let them play football.

“It feels great,” said Jim McElhenny, father of Tolleson High School senior quarterback James McElhenny. “They had so many good days and bad days, wishing and hoping they could play football. I just feel good for them. They could have quit. They could have given up. They stuck through it. It all worked out.”

James McElhenny tweeted Friday, “After a couple a difficult months and fighting for the chance to play the time has come. The wait and wonder we were put through was not only difficult but it took a lot of soul searching. We overcame and fought adversity. All of us kept our positivity and prayed. It’s go time.”

On Thursday, the Arizona Interscholastic Association Executive Board approved the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee’s changed metric on community spread from 10 or fewer COVID-19 cases to 75 per 100,000 people.

That put schools in the state in the green to start contact competition.

For a second straight week, Tolleson’s overall risk level was in the “moderate” range, the first time that has happened this summer. The district was at 49.69 cases per 100,000 people in Thursday’s data. That’s an improvement from 51.18 per 100,000 the previous week.

Tolleson Union Superintendent Nora Gutierrez sent a letter to the Tolleson football community, stating that because of the successive weeks of moderate risk levels for the spread of the disease that highest-risk students can return to school and student-athletes can begin formal workouts at school.

District school athletic directors met Friday to go over the start of fall sports with first workouts coming on Monday.

The Tolleson high school schools playing in the AIA are Tolleson, Avondale Westview, Glendale Copper Canyon, Avondale La Joya, Sierra Linda and West Point.

“I’m just happy to see the district do what was right and allow us to be able to compete and follow protocols,” said Westview receiver Jonathan Chacon, who spearheaded a protest outside the Tolleson Union district office earlier this summer. “Now us seniors can have a senior season and enjoy it on the field together and not have live with the ‘what ifs.’ God is good “

The Tolleson teams’ football season could be pushed back two weeks but the AIA Executive Board would still allow the teams to come into the season later and have a chance to qualify for the playoffs.

The season start for most varsity football games is Oct. 2.

“It’s pure joy and excitement for everybody from coaches to the kids,” Westview coach Nick Gehrts said. “We’re grateful to have an opportunity to get a chance to play.

“I’m thankful for our district.”

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