District 11 moves closer to opting out
Committee leans toward not having leagues be in state football playoffs
The District 11 committee is heavily leaning toward having its own tournament and not participating in the PIAA playoffs in football, but it is going back to its three leagues before making a final decision.
The call on whether to send teams into the PIAA tournament or not is expected Wednesday morning at an emergency meeting after district committee members go back to their league representatives to see where they stand.
Aprevious survey sent out to 46 football-playing schools in District 11 drew 38 responses asking what type of postseason they would prefer. Of the 38, only four schools said they would prefer to participate in state playoffs rather than a district tournament.
Schools have to choose between districts and states because of a condensed timetable prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.
On Wednesday, the PIAA finalized plans to host championships in all fall sports, including football, answering a question on the minds of many during the COVID-19 crisis, which has affected scholastic sports throughout Pennsylvania since March.
District 11 will send its champions into condensed state tournaments in all other fall sports.
But the PIAA football championship schedule, which has its tournament ending two weeks earlier than normal on Nov. 27-28, did not allow for any district tournament games to be played in five of the six classifications.
The lone exception is in 6A, where one game could be played prior to the
start of the state tournament in November.
The Colonial League, which already has had four schools cancel games due to COVIDcases, is set to start a six-game league schedule Friday night, about a month later than originally scheduled..
The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference will begin a five-game league slate on Oct. 1. Both leagues are set to wrap up on the weekend of Oct. 30-31.
“The overwhelming response from our survey has led us to recommend that District 11 not participate in the PIAA state playoffs and instead expand our district tournament to maximize the number of games for our local schools,” said District 11 football chairman and Northwestern Lehigh athletic director Jason Zimmerman.
The survey response was not a surprise to Zimmerman.
“We always believed this in our discussions with our member schools in normal times and that’s that our local schools love the District 11 championships,” Zimmerman said. “That’s the prize they’re reaching for and everything else is a bonus. There are exceptions, but that’s the case the majority of the time.”
District 11 chairman and Whitehall High athletic director Bob Hartman said “As much as we want teams to participate for state championships as the ultimate goal, we need to have District 11 championships, just as the PIAA needs to have state championships. Weunderstand that dynamic.”
Hartman said that the majority of the responses he received said it was not acceptable to determine district champs and state qualifiers based strictly on power ratings, especially in a reduced regular season in which teams may only be playing five games and those games may be against teams only in their own counties.
However, the committee decided to have its league representatives go back in the next few days and check again to make sure they believe in a district-overstate mindset.
Hartman said District 11 needs to inform the the PIAA of its decision to opt out of the state tournament by Oct. 7, when the PIAA board of control meets again.
If the district tournaments are held, eight teams would qualify in the 2A, 4A and 6A classifications, providing three weeks of games.
That means eight of nine possible teams would play district games in 2A, eight out of 10 in 4A and eight out of 12 in 6A.
In 1A, 3A and 5A, there would be fourteam tournaments. That means that only one potential 1A wouldn’t get into districts and two 3A teams. All four 5A schools would qualify for districts.
Zimmerman said those on the outside looking in could match up with each other for additional games that will give schools an opportunity to play at least another game in a year of reduced schedules.
“As our district football chairman, I think this is the way to go, especially after seeing the survey results,” Zimmerman said. “Sometimes you think you know what the pulse is, but whenyou’re able to confirm it as wedid here, it reassures you that you’re going in the right direction.”
The PIAA has mandated that all fall sports must end no later than Thanksgiving weekend in an effort to allow a buffer between the end of fall sports and the start of winter sports, which has its first competitions on Dec. 10. The PIAA also wants to minimize travel at the outset of the flu season.
Zimmerman said health concerns are another reason to stay within the confines of district play and forgo the PIAA tournament.
“Another angle to this is that it follows our school safety plans,” Zimmerman said. “I can’t tell you a school-safety plan that doesn’t say you should be competing regionally. So, in light of what many people view as an unsafe sport in normal conditions, we’re taking steps to at least regionalize it and provide a championship and extra opportunities for kids. It just makes a lot of sense.”
Hartman added that through the semifinals in all fall district tournaments, the higher-seeded teams would be hosting games, also minimizing travel.
Howvever, he added that if District 11 decides to forgo states and stay with its owntournament in November, he anticipates criticism from some corners.
“We’re going to take a PR hit; I get it and that’s fine,” Hartman said. “We’ve been taking PR hits for a long time. I’ve got a bull’s-eye on my back, [Zimmerman] has one on his. That’s OK. People will be angry. They always are. But we get to this solution, wefeel it’s going to be best for our football-playing members.”