Not a lot of local fans
Area school officials, fans have issues with state playoff bill
The 49th annual McDonald’s Lehigh Valley All-Star Football Classic on Thursday night was a symbol of unity.
Players came from six different Pennsylvania counties as well as New Jersey and put on the helmets and pads for a good cause at a time when the kids could have been doing a lot of other things.
The event was in contrast to the news from Harrisburg earlier this week where a bill was introduced by Rep. Aaron Bernstine and supported by the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference and members of the Equity Summit that called for the PIAA to institute separate tournaments for public and private schools.
But as the crowd gathered at Nazareth’s Andy Leh Stadium for the final scholastic event of the 2018-19 school year, few seemed to know what to say about the bill. Some had yet to digest it.
“We only talked about it a little bit at our District 11 committee meeting,” Nazareth athletic director Ray Ramella said. “Personally I don’t see it going anywhere. But I haven’t really had a chance to look at it yet. It originated from the western part of the state. It came out of the blue. I found out about it when I read it on Twitter. No one knew it was coming. Right now I don’t know enough about it to have a comment one way or the other.”
Tony Cocca, the just retired Nazareth softball coach and longtime area football coach who was working the sidelines for RCN4 Sports, has been following the problems of the PIAA for years.
“I think they’re blowing smoke some places,” Cocca said. “My thought has always been that if you want to be the best, you have to be build it to the best. St. Joe’s Prep is one of the best in football right now and you can tell your kids you can outwork them, but there’s no question they have advantages through open enrollment.”
Cocca believes the biggest problem with the bill is that by reducing the transfer restrictions that were recently implemented, you’re creating free agency.
“The kids can go anywhere and it’s not fair to schools that have boundaries,” Cocca said. “A kid can play football here, basketball there and maybe baseball at a third school. Free agency is not what high school sports should be all about. But at the same time,
people take this stuff way too seriously. High school sports are not life and death.”
Cocca remembered growing up in the 1960s when there were separate state tournaments and Bethlehem Catholic and Central Catholic competed for PCIAA titles and were not in the PIAA.
“Maybe we’re headed in that direction again,” Cocca said. “Or maybe we should go back and just play for league championships and not go through the state playoffs.”
Cocca doesn’t expect that to happen, of course. Too much money is at stake.
High school athletics have evolved into seasons nearly as long as the pros. Most high school programs have activities all year long. There’s pressure for kids to play to try to earn college scholarships, pressure on coaches to play those kids while at the same time win championships.
There’s pressure on officials, media outlets, administrators, everyone involved
and that’s why the structure of the state tournaments — who’s in, who’s not and how — has become so important.
It was only a matter of time before politicians got involved, but so far support for the bill has been lukewarm at best.
David Mika Jr., of Easternpafootball.com has long been a proponent of separate tournaments, but he does not like the Bernstine bill.
“Two things stand out, and one is including the charter schools with the public schools,” Mika said. “In football, Imhotep dominates and it’s a charter school. In basketball, it’s the same thing. It should be labeled boundary and nonboundary, and not private and public.”
If the bill passes, Mika sees kids moving around with great frequency, perhaps more than once, and the migration will be to the powerhouse programs.
“Southern Columbia from District 4 just won its ninth state title in December,” Mika said. “Their quarterback just graduated and went to Alabama. There is a sophomore quarterback who is 6-foot-4, 220 pounds from the Selinsgrove/Shamokin area who’s already getting Division I offers. If I am him I am transferring to Southern Columbia because the Division I schools are already there because they have the No. 1 receiver in the nation [Julian Fleming] going to Ohio State and three other guys getting Division I offers. You go there, you’re winning three state titles.”
The rich will get richer in Mika’s eyes..
“If they pass this and I am a coach, I get on the phone right away and start calling kids,” he said. “It’s going to be wide open. So, no, I don’t like it all.”
Chuck Dailey, the former Easton football player now the athletic director at East Stroudsburg North after a long run as the Timberwolves coach, said the bill is at least a starting point.
East Stroudsburg North has lost several kids to other schools in recent years.
“I don’t know enough about this proposal to judge it, but at least it has started the conversation, which is a good thing,” Dailey said. “I think something needs to be done.”