PIAA will allow schools to set attendance limits

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association scheduled state championship dates for fall sports and gave permission to school districts to set fan attendance policy during a Board of Directors meeting Wednesday.

PIAA district and state playoff bids likely will not apply to the majority of schools in Delaware County. The only leagues with Delco members to reverse course after initially postponing fall athletics due to the coronavirus pandemic are the Ches-Mont and Central League, which announced this week it will forgo participation in PIAA tournaments and instead focus on having student-athletes play as many in-league games as possible before the end of the fall campaign.

The PIAA approved a request from District 1 chairperson Dr. Michael Barber to permit fall teams to play games through the Thanksgiving weekend and to reduce the minimum number of games required to qualify for district and state tournaments. The Board decided that district committees will set individual standards on postseason qualifications.

As of Monday, the Central League has scheduled all sports to end on or before Thanksgiving weekend. For example, Central League football teams have a six-week window in which to schedule regular season games among themselves, and the final weekend is set for Nov. 2728. The Central League will hold its first official practice date for all sports Tuesday,

Sept. 29. The league requires a week of heat acclimatization for all football teams.

PIAA executive director Dr. Robert Lombardi said Wednesday that school districts can determine fan attendance limitations. Lombardi’s statement came on the heels of a federal judge’s ruling this week that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s restrictions on public gathering is unconstitutional.

Rather than limiting 25 spectators for an indoor sport such as volleyball, or

250 attendees for all outdoor sports, schools will have free reign to decide how many attendees can fill the seats of their gymnasiums and stadiums, according to Lombardi. The Wolf administration has appealed to the U.S. Third Circuit of Appeals.

“You heard some of the board members say we would recommend to local schools engage their local school solicitor and their board to come up with a decision for how they’re going to handle spectators,” Lombardi told reporters after Wednesday’s meeting.

The Board of Directors also approved a state championship schedule. To limit traveling, the PIAA is allowing only district champions to advance to state tournaments.

All state championships will be held at Hersheypark Stadium. Boys and girls soccer will be held Nov. 20

21 and girls volleyball will take place Nov. 21. Field hockey championships are scheduled for Nov. 21 and cross country finals will be held Nov. 6-7. Girls tennis team championships will take place Oct. 31 and individual and doubles championships are set for Nov.

7. Football championships will take place Nov. 27-28.