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SPEAKER 1: Dreams on the carry. Touchdown for the Eagles.

CATHY WURZER: It's football season in Minnesota with more than 25,000 high school students playing this year, yet the game is different from what it was even a few years ago. The reason-- concern over head injuries. After a months-long MPR News and KARE 11 reporting project, Trisha Volpe has our story.

SPEAKER 2: [INAUDIBLE]

TRISHA VOLPE: On a chilly mid-September evening, hundreds of fans filled the East Ridge High School Football Stadium in Woodbury to cheer on their team.

[INAUDIBLE]

TRISHA VOLPE: It's a Minnesota ritual many decades old. But since Minnesota lawmakers passed a concussion law three years ago, hundreds of players have been pulled from games and practices, game rules have changed, and parents are more aware of the safety risks their teenage players face.

Using the state data practices law, MPR News and KARE 11 asked more than 100 districts around the state about their policies, budgets, and a lot of other things related to high school football and found a significant shift in the approach schools take toward keeping kids safe on the field.

The Return-to-Play law requires players suspected of sustaining head injuries to be pulled from practices and games and not allowed to return without medical clearance. Schools have done that hundreds and hundreds of times.

MARK GORMLEY: I think since we've had the Return-to-Play law, we've seen an explosion in people paying attention to concussions. And we're seeing more kids come in to make sure that their brains are working appropriately.

TRISHA VOLPE: Dr. Mark Gormley with Gillette Children's specialty health care in Saint Paul is a youth concussion expert who analyzed school districts responses. He concluded that most are complying with the law and said more kids are being pulled out of practice or play, but not necessarily because more kids are sustaining concussions.

MARK GORMLEY: Well, I think the concussion management in high schools in Minnesota have changed quite considerably over the last few years, and I think it's gotten a lot better. And I think mainly it's education and awareness.

TRISHA VOLPE: However, school districts are complying with the law differently. Dr. Ron Tarrel is a neurologist with Minneapolis-based Noran Neurological Clinic. After taking a look at school districts' responses to MPR News, he noted that school districts have sometimes vastly different protocols for tracking injuries, for monitoring equipment, and for providing information about injury risk to parents and athletes. Tarrel recommends more consistency.

RON TARREL: It's not about pointing fingers. It's not about finding faults. It's about accumulating data to continue to refine and put together the best law that gives you the best awareness, best prevention, best treatment, best outcome for their athletes.

TRISHA VOLPE: The Minnesota Department of Health earlier this month estimated that high school football players sustained more than 1,300 concussions last year. That's in line with what school districts told MPR News. The more than 130 high schools that responded reported more than 1,800 football players were removed from practice or the game since the law was enacted three years ago, in very few cases did a player return to the same game. Most returned days or weeks later after receiving the required medical clearance.

But about a fifth of the school districts that responded to MPR News said they don't track concussions and the law doesn't require it. Youth concussion expert Mark Gormley encourages districts that don't have a concussion tracking policy to develop one.

MARK GORMLEY: It doesn't take much to track. You can have your school manager just track. It's like how many kids had a concussion symptoms? How many of them resolved? When did they resolve? Did they get their testing done? It doesn't take much.

TRISHA VOLPE: Most schools surveyed measure players' cognitive abilities before the season starts through baseline testing to be able to better track the effect of any head injuries and to help determine when and if a player is ready to return. Some schools don't. And several districts say they've changed the way they hold practices.

BEAU LABORE: See the target. See what you hit.

SPEAKERS: Go, go, go, go, go.

TRISHA VOLPE: On a summer afternoon in Stillwater, the Ponies test their strength and endurance.

BEAU LABORE: One more time.

TRISHA VOLPE: Stillwater High School boasts one of the state's top football programs, and head coach Beau LaBore says safety is a top priority.

BEAU LABORE: Get low to start.

TRISHA VOLPE: LaBore says players are taught to keep their heads up, to play low, and to always have their feet underneath them, techniques known to lead to less violent contact during play. And Ponies players are not allowed to use their helmets as a weapon.

BEAU LABORE: I think that it's a good thing that we have improved the way that we coach the game, the way that we equip our players to play the game, and ultimately ensure that the proper techniques in skills are being used to keep football as safe as it can be.

TRISHA VOLPE: The rules of the game have also changed and are about to change even more. Next year, the Minnesota State High School League will limit the number of contact practices in June and July to six. Limiting contact between players means less opportunity for hits to the head. And during the season, Associate League director, Kevin Merkel, says officials are being told to better enforce penalties for behavior on the field known to lead to injury.

KEVIN MERKEL: If kids are kicked out of the game because they launch and lead with their head, they can't play the next game. And that sends a strong message.

TRISHA VOLPE: MPR News also asked school districts what information they give parents about concussions, another requirement of the Return-to-Play law. All school districts reported providing parents with detailed information about safety and head injuries. Some schools do more than others. And when it comes to equipment, school districts appear to be buying the best equipment their budgets allow.

All that responded say they purchased football helmets new and, in general, replace them as needed, but at least every 10 years. Heightened concern about head injury has led to a lot of changes in a sport that is as popular as ever. Changes to help keep student athletes who play high school football in Minnesota safe and in the game.

SPEAKER 1: Touchdown for the Eagles.

TRISHA VOLPE: Reporting for MPR News and KARE 11, I'm Trisha Volpe.

CATHY WURZER: And to see video of football changes and an interactive map of school responses to our survey, I hope you'll go to our website. It's there right now, mprnews.org.