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In an effort to reduce fuel costs, the Prince George's County Public Schools have enacted a new bussing policy that will impact high school soccer schedules and some football scrimmages.

County public school varsity soccer teams will play boys/girls double-headers on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. Previously, when two county schools faced one other in soccer, the boys' teams played at one school while the girls' game was held simultaneously at the other school.

County Athletic Director Earl Hawkins said he thinks the new plan will be effective.

"We know that there is a gas problem and problems with the cost of fuel," Hawkins said. "We felt we needed to do whatever we could to avoid wasting trips. It was decided by the [county athletic] association to do that. These decisions were made a while ago in the past year."

County Schools Transportation Director Michael Dodson said the idea arose to address a problem that affects drivers across the country.

"At the end of June, we sat down with [Hawkins], met with the bussing staff and supervisors to discuss fuel conservation and have a better handle to monitor athletic trips," Dodson said. "I think it was mainly to address the immediate fuel conservation issues. At the time we were discussing it, oil was $146 a barrel. We felt like we needed to be proactive."

Starting with Tuesday games on Sept. 9, soccer double-headers will begin with the first game at 3:30 p.m., followed by the second game at 5 p.m. Hawkins said that later in the season, when there is less daylight, the games will be moved to 3 and 4:30 p.m. Girls' games will lead off the double-headers during the first week, but the order of games will alternate each week, Hawkins said.

Hawkins said he is planning a meeting with athletic directors from all schools on Friday to determine how many schools are fielding junior varsity soccer teams and what the JV schedule will be. He added that JV games would be played at the same times as varsity games at sites not being used for varsity games.

The decision to cut back on fuel expenses also has had an effect on the county football preseason. Many teams planned just two scrimmages games. In the past, four scrimmages had been the norm.

Oxon Hill High School football coach Kevin Wolfolk said his team scheduled three scrimmages, all at home. But one of those was actually a three-way scrimmage, which enabled the Clippers to still have the chance to play against four teams despite having only three dates.

Despite the fact that the Clippers will not travel to any scrimmages, Wolfolk said he still would have reduced the number of scrimmage contests.

"You got one week of [training] camp, one week of school and then the [first] game week," he said. "To me, four scrimmages is a lot anyway in that short amount of time for high school kids. Somebody could get banged up, and it's hard to get those kids back in there after injuries."

Dodson said no plans have been made to adjust athletic bussing for the winter and spring seasons.

"If [gas] looked like it would spike again, we would keep a close eye on that, and if we needed to, we would schedule further meetings," Dodson said.

E-mail Terron Hampton at thampton@gazette.net.