There will be some fall sports after all, but not football.

Football will have to wait for the springtime.

(Updated at 11:59 a.m. Wednesday)

Welcome to the first post from my new desktop computer, and hopefully it's good news for everyone that loves high school sports.

According to reports by the Boston Herald's Matt Feld (and if you're not following him on Twitter, you absolutely must at @mattyfeld612), the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has given its blessing to allow the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association to pursue a fall-season schedule as outlined by the MIAA's COVID-19 Task Force's recommendations, and the MIAA's Board of Directors has approved it unanimously.

In a nutshell -- no football. That will be shifted to a "fourth season" slotted in-between a shortened winter season and a shifted spring season. But otherwise, sports that aren't considered high risk for COVID infection have the green light -- pending approval by the MIAA Board of Directors -- to start the fall on Sept. 18.

The sports given the OK are boys' golf, cross country, field hockey, soccer, gymnastics, girls' volleyball, and swimming and diving.

While the official starting dates for the other seasons have not been announced (and are subject to further review), it's likely that the winter season for boys' and girls' basketball, boys' and girls' hockey, wrestling, indoor track and a few others would run from Nov. 30 through Feb. 21 (originally recommended for Feb. 28, which bothers me a little), football and other high-risk sports from Feb. 22 through April 25, and spring sports (baseball, softball, track, lacrosse, tennis, girls' golf and boys' volleyball) from April 26 through July 3.

Nothing beyond the fall is totally set, and a number of factors could sidetrack it all -- rising coronavirus cases at the forefront of those factors. Nor has there yet been substantive discussion of crowd restrictions, travel and facility concerns, media coverage and so on. The MIAA, DESE and the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs will review all the factors before deciding to proceed with another season.

The MIAA Board of Directors voted 23-0 to accept the schedule as proposed. It also voted against the conducting of any MIAA tournaments in the fall, giving the individual leagues the go-ahead to conduct their own tournaments if desired. The ruling panel also temporarily loosened restrictions on out-of-season contact between athletes and coaches as a means of facilitating football's preparation for a later season and as compensation for the loss of last year's spring season.