In a decision that can be described as head-scratching, the PIAA Board of Control did not approve a vote to shorten the football season from 16 weeks to 15 at today's meeting, held before the start of the state football championship game.
There was considerable momentum toward returning to a 15-week season considering Pennsylvania is one of the few state which play high school football this late into the school year. The others are in warmer climates.
The motion needed 21 "yes" votes to pass. It was turned down - 16 yes, 10 no, 1 abstention.
According to Rod Frisco of RodFrisco.com, several districts balked when it learned it would lose PIAA qualifiers.
Ridiculous.
A 16-week season is far too long at the high school level, not to mention that the season ends one weekend before Christmas is also laughable. With increased attention to concussions and other injuries, this vote shows that several members are more concerned with sending a quantity of qualifiers to the state playoffs than the safety of players.
6 comments:
This is stupid. The PIAA and WPIAL lacks common sense. You could easily start the season 1 week earlier, have a 9 week regular season statewide(most districts play a 10 Week season), and cut the playoff field in half. With that plan the season would end 3 weeks earlier than it does now. But nope, the WPIAL wants its 16 team playoff field which is stupid, and no one out east wants to compromise either.
My only experience covering a team that went 16 weeks was on 2010 when South Fayette reached the Class AA title game.
They were beat up, practice was tough and a few members of the coaching staff wished the season was one week shorter because of the physical toll. As a Clairton fan, I'm sure you remember how much snow fell during the playoffs.
To top it off, Christian Brumbaugh got a concussion in the championship when the back of his helmet smacked off the hard ground.
Joe Nic is on the right track. 16 games is WAY to long of a season. Top 2-3 teams make the playoffs in each section would cut the season 2 weeks. most if not all 1st round games are A JOKE for the most part.
The only Class where I think its remotely reasonable to have a 16 team field is 2A. There's what 23 schools in 4A. Whats the point of including a 3-6 Shaler(example purposes, just to get blown out by PCC or Gateway? And other than the Parkway schools I don't really see the need to include all 4 schools from the Keystone. Which is where I think going to 8 conferences is a fabulous idea. If the playoff field was to get cut in half, a Parkway school wouldn't get left out otherwise. Other than maybe, just maybe Beth Center was there any real playoff worthy teams from the Tri County.
How great locally would it be to see Canon-Mac play Char Houston or West A vs Fort Cherry? A better nonconference schedule would better prepare Beth Center and Monessen for longer playoff runs instead of sticking both in a conference that does nothing for those 2 schools. Personally I think going to 5 class's would decrease the seperation between the haves and have nots across the board. Sure a Burgettstown had a great start but having them in a league w/ larger Class A schools like Fort Cherry, Char Houston, and Sto Rox, and smaller Class AA schools like Washington would benefit them a lot more than trying to compete with South Fayette and Keystone Oaks.
And to answer those that say Clairton must play in 2A, if there is 5 or 6 Class's I'd totally agree with you.
Joey,
After seeing Clairton a few times in the past weeks, I came away thoroughly impressed. Not only do I think they could compete in AA, I think they would give Quip and Jeannette all they could handle. What are their prospects for next year? I know Boyd is back, along with Webb(?) and the FB. If I remember right, an underclassman RB got hurt during camp. Do they have a legitimate shot at winning another state title?
FNF
We return Boyd, Howard, Webb, Clifford, and Karvonn Coles but replace like 3 or 4 from the OLine, and nearly the entire front 7. Going to be interesting to see how the youth movement goes next year.
Post a Comment