Philadelphia Catholic League moving sports to the spring
Get ready for something that’s never happened before in the history of Delaware Valley scholastic athletics.
High school football in the spring. At least that’s the case for Conwell-Egan High and the rest of the teams in the Philadelphia Catholic League after it was announced earlier this week that the PCL has moved all of its fall sports to the spring.
The PCL joined a growing list of District 1 and 12 leagues that have announced they will not play football in the fall. These include the
Philadelphia Public League, the DelVal League and other schools such as Phoenixville, Cheltenham, Norristown and Pottstown.
“After much careful thought, consultation and prayer a decision has been reached that all of our high school sports will opt out of interscholastic competition for the fall 2020 season,” the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said in a press release on Monday.
At the end of last week the PIAA announced it is going ahead with the football season and teams can begin playing regular season games on Sept. 11.
It’s up to each district’s school board, however, to make the final decision and just how many Lower Bucks schools will play football this fall will become apparent Friday at a meeting of a Suburban One League officials. At this meeting schools are required to make an official commitment as to whether their football teams are in or out.
It remains unclear if the PIAA is hoping to hold playoffs at the end of its planned abbreviated football season, but with the PCL moving to the spring the Pennsylvania football landscape has already been dramatically altered.
The PCL is considered the top league in the state and one of the best on the East Coast. St. Joe’s Prep (Class 6A) and Archbishop Wood (Class 5A) are both defending state champions and have won numerous state titles ever since the PCL joined the PIAA in 2008.
Although St. Joe’s Prep is a member of the PCL, it is not under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. This is also the case for La Salle, which also knows what it is to win a state title and is St. Joe’s biggest rival.
According to reports, both St. Joe’s Prep and La Salle are considering the possibility of playing independent schedules this fall.
St. Joe’s is particularly anxious to play because the word is the powerhouse Hawks are even more loaded up than usual with two Ohio State recruits. One is Kyle McCord, who is rated the No. 2 senior quarterback in the country, and the other is wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.