There is no other sport, save perhaps rugby, where injuries are more pervasive than in football, where safety canons have become omnipresent: better and sounder equipment, more stringent concussion protocols, less contact during the practice week, safety-related rule changes and bye weeks to aid in rest and recovery.

And so this, championship week, is perhaps the best time to inquire why safety and health concerns are sacrosanct during the high school football regular season in Connecticut, but are benignly ignored in the playoffs.

To wit: The kids who played in Sunday’s semifinals played their third game in an 11-13 day span. The kids in the finals Saturday will play their fourth game in 17 days. Consider that the normal rhythms of the regular season dictate that kids play three games normally in 21 days and four games in 28 – with a mandated bye week in October.

So now we reach the end of the season, where the totality of the season’s physicality leaves the still developing bodies of high school kids at the height of their vulnerability. And here we are neglecting safety concerns.

I asked some trainers throughout the region their opinions about three games in 11 days and potentially four in 17.

“The first thing that comes to mind is not enough recovery time and what kind of nutrition they’re getting in shorter periods,” East Lyme High trainer Ashley James said. “It could lead to higher chance of injury and more cramping. A bag of ice doesn’t cure all injuries.”

Bethany Grady, the trainer at Fitch: “Recovery is literally my first thought. Do these athletes have the chance at optimal recovery like in Division I or professionals? Not even in the best of circumstances.

And then basic calorie consumption opens up a whole different issue. Coming from a school with a high number of free and reduced lunches and where breakfast is super important, I’m betting some of these kids aren’t getting adequate nutritional recovery. Never mind basic physical recovery from highly competitive games. This can absolutely lead to subpar performance and as we know, subpar performance can lead to higher risk of injury.”

James and Grady were not alone in their assessments. All other trainers interviewed agreed. But their opinions are based on experience and common sense, not raw data. Studies don’t yet exist (or least none that I found) indicating that more games amid a shorter calendar have led to more injuries to high school football players in Connecticut.

I asked some players at Sunday’s semifinal game between Valley/Old Lyme and Gilbert/Northwestern/Housatonic how they were feeling after their third game between 11 and 13 days. The answers were remarkably similar: The toll of the season is upon them. Many bruises and increasing soreness, none of which is improving. But it’s the playoffs so you “suck it up.”

I get that football requires its combatants to climb Macho Mountain. But if such safety-related situations can be avoided, we should be doing so. And this can be avoided.

I’d like to think that the same safety concerns of the regular season and simple common sense should apply to the playoffs – and certainly should trump the expediency of completing the playoffs as quickly as possible. But then, this is Connecticut, where the governing body of high school sports answers to nobody.

There are solutions to the issue. But again, this would require conversation, collaboration, effort, hard decisions and an earnest desire to make changes. Instead, we’ll always do what we’ve always done. Nothing. Because the CIAC says so. Convenient and easy. The CIAC plays the long game. Eventually, the yelping of us alarmists dies to mere echoes.

But in the interest of rampant idealism, I’m thinking that somebody out there actually cares about a solution tethered to safety, not expediency. If we utilized more of August, the football season would start earlier and end earlier, particularly if we got rid of Thanksgiving football. The playoffs would begin earlier, have more time to finish and still not interfere with winter sports. (More on that shortly.)

I’m unclear as to why the sentiment to keep Thanksgiving football in Connecticut wields more power than the Teamsters. It is not the ninth Beatitude. “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; blessed are the footballers of Thanksgiving; for the kingdom, the power and glory are theirs now and forever.”

Thanksgiving football’s tradition, while noteworthy, should not transcend how it forces the playoffs to be shoehorned into a short period of time and how it imperils athletes as they transition into the winter season.

Example: Last December, Killingly wrestling coach Rich Bowen asked Norwich Free Academy to postpone the schools’ season opening meet to a later date because he didn't have enough wrestlers to begin the season. His request came because several of his best wrestlers had just played in the state football championship game four days earlier. Not enough Killingly wrestlers had enough practice time (a mandated 10 practice sessions) to prepare for the season.

That is patently unfair to Bowen and other winter sports coaches, not to mention the concept of the kids needing a few days of rest and recovery for their bodies after football season.

“They could end the football season earlier,” Bowen said at the time. “I'm all for us having a successful football season. The kids come to us with toughness. But you'd think they would do more to make everything compatible. It's not fair to the kids. It's not fair to all the winter sports. It takes two to three weeks just to get the basics down. When football runs this late, they're that much farther behind.”

I get that this applies to a mere segment of the athletes. But with the number of football playoff teams expanding, the number is growing. I figure if the 12 state finalists have rosters around 40, that’s 480 potential winter athletes who will be bruised, battered and behind for the winter season.

But does anyone else care enough to do something about it?

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro