NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) The Newtown, Conn., high school's football team won't have to play on the anniversary of the deadly Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings if it reaches the state championship game.

The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference announced Monday it approved Newtown High School's request to hold the game Dec. 13 instead of Dec. 14 if Newtown reaches the final at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain.

Conference spokesman Joel Cookson says the governing group's football committee decided it wouldn't be appropriate for the Newtown Nighthawks to play Dec. 14, a year after a gunman killed 20 students and six adults at the Sandy Hook School.

The football team dedicated its season to the shooting victims and went 12-0.

The Nighthawks open the playoffs Tuesday against 9-2 Ridgefield.