Coaches are leaving no stone unturned while attempting to get student athletes back on the gridiron this fall.

Fairfield Ludlowe head football coach Mitchell Ross says he and other coaches are trying their best in the wake of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference decision to cancel the high school football season.

Ross says the Fairfield County Football League, which most youth teams in the area are a part of, has generously offered to create a new division for players grades nine through 12.

"It gives them an opportunity to play this fall where previously the other avenues have been shut off to them," he says. "Youth football leagues have been allowed and permitted to operate through the fall, I believe they're on their third or fourth game"

While playing in this private, non-school sanctioned league is permitted, teams won't have access to high school fields, equipment, or school transportation

"That can run about $800 in equipment, we have to get insurance for all these players," Ross says.

Not every team will be able to afford this, so Ross says the league has committed to supporting teams from under-privileged areas.

Ross says he purchased face shields for linemen, and the league plans to provide players with saliva tests they can administer at home.

"We intend to get every football player of the ninth through 10th grade in Fairfield County who wants to play football, on the field this fall," he says.

Ross hopes teams can start playing each other the weekend of Oct. 9.