Superstorm Sandy is gone, but the effects of this historic disaster continue to reverberate. Obviously the focus remains on the loss of power, the loss of property, and tragically in a few cases, the loss of life.

Much lower down on the list of concerns is the impact on high school sports. But November is the month of the state tournaments for most fall sports, and the problems caused by the storm are going to have a major impact on the schedule for those tournaments.

The most dramatic change is a one-week delay in the football season, forcing the entire state football playoffs to be rescheduled. Games scheduled for this weekend will, in most cases, be pushed back by one week. The NJSIAA says teams can play their games this weekend if both teams agree, but it appears that few schools will avail themselves of that option.

As a result, the first round of the state tournament will be pushed back to November 16-17, and the sectional semifinals will have to take place after Thanksgiving, with the finals December 7-8.

On the one hand, this is probably feasible in terms of weather, as by chance, this year's schedule is the earliest date the football season normally ends. Some worried about the willingness of game sites such as MetLife Stadium to shift the schedule, but the NJSIAA seems confident that won't be an issue.

The biggest problem will be the impact on winter sports. Practice for basketball and wrestling begins the Monday after Thanksgiving, so football players whose teams make the sectional finals normally miss one week of winter prep. The number of impacted teams will be doubled to 80 if the season is pushed back. And for those that make the finals, players will lose two weeks of winter practice, meaning they would have less than a week to get ready for the first games or wrestling meets.

The boys' and girls' soccer tournaments were supposed to begin this week, but all games Monday and Tuesday were postponed. (A few schools played their games over the weekend; that decision is looking smarter by the day.) Some schools in this area hoped to play first-round games on Thursday or Friday. But now the NJSIAA says it will not require any games to be played until next week, and will issue a new schedule shortly. It's not clear if any schools will try to play their games this weekend.

Field hockey's state tournament began last week, with all opening-round games completed by Saturday. The second round was scheduled to take place Monday through Thursday, with the sectional semifinals Friday and Saturday. Obviously, that schedule has been greatly disrupted. It's not clear when that tournament will resume.

Volleyball was slated to begin its tournament Tuesday but all games were postponed. The original goal to start play Wednesday is not happening either. But of all the sports, volleyball is probably in the best position to move forward; obviously field conditions are not a concern and games on back-to-back days are not unreasonable.

Cross country will be impacted as well, with the sectional races pushed back a week to November 10th due to the storm. In addition, the sites for the local sectional events will need to be changed. The impact on the gymnastics state tournament is unclear at this time.

We'll have further updates as more information becomes available.