For now, fall sports get an OK
But PIAA knows it’s governor’s call
The discussion on the future of the high school fall sports season was not on the agenda of the PIAA board of directors meeting Wednesday, but that didn’t stop the board from making a significant announcement.
The season will go on as planned.
Well, at least that’s the plan for now.
In what remains a fluid situation, the PIAA announced it will proceed with the season unless instructed differently by the governor.
“Absent the closing of schools, we have the ability that we have now that we can do what we have to do,” PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi said.
Another PIAA board of
directors meeting is scheduled July 29, which was moved up from Aug. 5.
As with many things, the status of the season has been up in the air due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many WPIAL teams are currently holding summer workouts. Heat acclimatization begins the week of Aug. 10 and the first day teams can practice is Aug. 17.
Rumors floated around Wednesday that the PIAA would suspend athletics through the end of the year. It wouldn’t have come as a surprise to some, especially after NCAA Division II Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) did exactly that Tuesday.
It turned out the PIAA’s news was much more encouraging.
“There are a lot of things we’re willing to do,” Lombardi said. “I think you’ve heard loud and clear from the board that our philosophy is we’re going to make our best efforts to get whatever we can as much as we can for every student-athlete in this state so they can participate in athletics this school year.”
That could include schools in one part of the state playing 25% of its schedule and another 75%, Lombardi said.
Despite a rise in COVID-19 cases in places like Allegheny County, Lombardi said the prospects for the fall season appear to be even better now than they did a month earlier. That’s not the case in other states such as Virginia, which Wednesday decided to not play high school football this fall. And while the PIAA has discussed alternate plans, such as pushing fall sports to the spring, it’s not something they are focusing on at this time.
“Our intent is to play the fall season as scheduled, even if it’s in a shortened or altered fashion. There’s a false narrative that the spring is going to be better than the fall, and there’s no guarantee of that,” he said.
Winter championships
The PIAA basketball championships will remain at Giant Center in Hershey for the next four years, beginning with the 2020-21 school year. The venue also will continue to play host to PIAA championships for individual and team wrestling, as well as competitive cheer. Bucknell University will continue to be the site of the swimming and diving championships. Hershey has been home to the basketball title games every season — minus this year due to COVID-19 — since 2012. In the six years before that, they were at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center.
Geibel enters co-op
Also approved was a cooperative sponsorship between Geibel Catholic and Southmoreland in girls basketball and football. Any Geibel student who wishes to play those sports will do so with Southmoreland. Geibel has struggled mightily in girls basketball in recent years, going 1-18 in 2019 and 1-16 last season when it reached 30 points just once. But the Gators at one time had a lot of bite. They won seven WPIAL championships, including four in a row from 1993-96. The Gators reached the final every year from 1991-99.