Winter sports placed on hold
Gov. Wolf’s order alters PIAA plan
On Wednesday, the PIAA gave the go-ahead for high school winter sports teams to start games and competitions Friday. A day later, Gov. Tom Wolf put a halt to the start of the season.
Wolf announced Thursday afternoon that all school and youth sports, including club and intramural, are suspended until Jan. 4 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Teams can’t play games or practice, and Wolf suspended all extracurricular activities at schools.
Wolf’s order goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. That brings about a question of whether high schools still will play season-opening games that were scheduled Friday and Saturday. About 30 boys and 30 girls basketball games involving WPIAL teams were scheduled for Friday night. Some games have been canceled, but some still will be played.
Winter sports sponsored by the WPIAL are boys and girls basketball, wrestling, boys and girls swimming, girls gymnastics, rifle and cheer.
“We will adjust accordingly. At our meeting, we talked about, regardless of what was decided (by Wolf), we will move forward with a plan to allow schools to have as much time as possible to play contests.”
— Amy Scheuneman
WPIAL executive director
Hockey is sponsored by the PIHL, but also will come under Wolf’s mandate.
So, now what — for the PIAA and WPIAL? PIAA staff members met Thursday night via Zoom call.
“We’ll have a statement [Friday] morning,” PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi said. “We need some time to digest this.”
Wolf’s order came less than a half-hour after a meeting of the WPIAL board of directors ended Thursday. The board went over some eligibility cases for WPIAL student-athlete transfers, but also listened to executive director Amy Scheuneman talk about items the PIAA board of directors passed Wednesday for winter sports.
“We kind of expected this to come. We will adjust accordingly,” Scheuneman said. “At our meeting, we talked about, regardless of what was decided [by Wolf], we will move forward with a plan to allow schools to have as much time as possible to play contests.”
Official practice for all Pennsylvania high school teams began Nov. 20.
Some teams around the state are — or were — shut down for a week or more because of COVID-19 cases. Under PIAA rules, a team must complete 15 preseason practices before it can play a game.
The PIAA also passed a new rule Thursday that if a team is shut down and does not practice for more than 14 days, it will need four days of practice before it can play a game.
“Based on what the PIAA approved, if a team got in all of their 15 preseason practices, their first competition could be Jan. 8,” Scheuneman said.
Although the PIAA wanted to start winter sports as scheduled, the PIAA on Thursday lengthened the winter sports season a few weeks, in case teams had to shut down. The state basketball championships will be the final weekend in March.
The PIAA also ruled that only district champions will make the state playoffs in basketball and team wrestling. WPIAL basketball teams will not have to plug into the PIAA playoffs until March 19. Thus, even if WPIAL basketball teams wouldn’t start playing games until, say, Jan. 16, they still could have five or six weeks in the regular season.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to start back up on time, but schools might have additional shutdowns,” Scheuneman said. “They might have six weeks to play, but still might have to shut down for a week or a week-and-a-half.”
What worries many coaches and athletic directors is that the COVID-19 situation might not be any better Jan. 4. What then? At the PIAA meeting Thursday, Lombardi said one of the reasons the PIAA decided to let schools start winter sports on time was, “We have not seen any data why Jan. 1 would be better than Dec. 11, or why Jan. 15 would be better than Feb. 1.”
Scheuneman will meet next week with steering committees of all WPIAL winter sports to discuss playoffs. She acknowledged the possibility of an “open” basketball tournament, meaning any team could enter the playoffs if they choose. The PIAA passed a rule that there is not a minimum amount of games teams will have to play to make the postseason.
“Really, an open tournament in basketball would only add one more round of games [for the WPIAL],” Scheuneman said.
Four Western Pennsylvania boys basketball teams actually will get in two games — on Friday night.
Neshannock was scheduled to play host to a four-team tournament Friday and Saturday with Shenango, Moniteau and Mercyhurst Prep. The schools agreed to play the entire tournament Friday night.
Neshannock’s high school and middle school gyms are in the same building. A game will be played in each gym at 6. The winners and losers will play in the championship and consolation at 7:30.
“As soon as I heard [Gov. Wolf], I called our athletic director and asked if the district would be on board. He said yes,” Neshannock coach John Corey said. “After that, we called the other teams and everyone was on board.
“In the back of my mind, I sit and wonder if the Jan. 4 start is actually going to happen. This at least gives our players, especially the senior, a chance to create as much normalcy as possible for a night.”