Against what were widely viewed as considerable odds when the fall high school sports season was delayed at the start, District 2 has completed the process of determining golf champions and has started deciding champions in girls tennis.
Now, the district also has its revised plans in place for each of its other championships.
On the state level, every fall sport except for football was impacted with fewer qualifiers for state championships.
In football, the state championship brackets were largely kept intact – with the exception of schools and districts that chose not to take part while working through COVID-19 issues – but the district playoffs were overhauled to allow for state play to be completed earlier.
Here is the latest on upcoming district plans for each sport:
GIRLS TENNIS
District 2 singles play was scheduled to start Saturday.
The semifinals and finals of singles are set for Monday at 1 p.m. at either Kirby Park or an indoor site, if needed.
The district, which has already decided team titles, will move into doubles play Saturday. Class 3A, which includes Pittston Area, will play at North Pocono. Class 2A, which includes Wyoming Area, will play at Kirby Park.
District doubles play will be completed Oct. 26.
FIELD HOCKEY
The District 2 Class A tournament is scheduled for quarterfinals Oct. 26, semifinals Oct. 28 and final Nov. 2 at Wyoming Valley West.
The first two rounds are played at the home of the higher seed.
In Class 2A, the dates are Oct. 27, Oct. 29 and Nov. 3 with the final set for Berwick.
Class 3A has just two rounds, Oct. 29 and Nov. 2. The final is at Wyoming Valley West.
Wyoming Area is in Class A and Pittston Area is in Class 2A.
VOLLEYBALL
District 2 has eliminated neutral site championship doubleheaders for this season and all matches will be played at the home of the highest seed.
Pittston Area will be part of a District 2-4 Subregional in Class 3A where Wyoming Area will not qualify.
The Class 3A tournament is set for quarterfinals Oct. 28, semifinals Nov. 2 and finals Nov. 5.
Class A and 2A will be conducted Oct. 26, Oct. 29 and Nov. 3.
The Class 4A tournament is set for Oct. 27 and Nov. 4.
CROSS COUNTRY
District 2 has decided to split its cross country championships into separate days for girls and boys. It has also eliminated its B race, which was for runners not in the top seven scoring competitors from their team.
Each school will be allowed to bring just its seven competitors and an alternate.
There will be no spectators or concessions.
The girls meet will be Oct. 28 and the boys meet will be Oct. 31, both at Lakeland High School.
To reduce the number of people on site, there will be more time between races with required arrival and departure times to avoid overlaps. There will not be any medal ceremonies.
On each race day, Class 3A is at 10 a.m., Class A is at 12:30 p.m. and Class 2A is at 3 p.m.
Both Pittston Area teams compete in Class 3A. Both Wyoming Area teams are in Class 2A.
FOOTBALL
District 2 will only hold championship games in three of six classifications and will need to further shorten the regular season in order to determine one of them.
In Class 2A, the district will declare a champion without a playoff by using its ratings system.
Old Forge will be the Class A champion after Holy Cross, the only other school in the smallest classification, chose to opt out of playoffs, removing that formality. The unbeaten Blue Devils already posted a 70-0 victory over Holy Cross, which sat out the 2019 season and has not won yet this season.
Wyoming Valley West is the Class 5A champion by default after Abington Heights chose not to compete this season.
In Class 6A, the district will have the top two rated teams through Oct. 23-24 – after Lackawanna Football Conference teams have played for just four weeks – meet to determine the title.
Williamsport is no longer grouped with District 2 in a subregional.
The Millionaires have been moved to a District 4-6 subregional.
That leaves titles to be decided in one-game playoffs in Class 4A and 3A on the first weekend of November when the playoffs would have normally just been starting.
Only the top two ratings will qualify teams. Pittston Area is already out of the picture in Class 4A and defending state champion Wyoming Area went into Friday night desperately needing a win over unbeaten Lake-Lehman just to remain in contention in Class 3A.
SOCCER
All rounds will be played at the home field of the higher seed unless the higher seed’s field is not fit to host a championship game.
If any classifications includes nine teams, because of more than eight posting records of .500 or better, first-round games will be played Oct. 31.
The boys schedule calls for quarterfinals Nov. 2, semifinals Nov. 4 and finals Nov. 6.
The girls schedule is quarterfinals Nov. 3, semifinals Nov. 5 and finals Nov. 7.
Pittston Area is Class 3A in both, although its boys team is unlikely to qualify.
Wyoming Area is Class 2A in both.
John Erzar also contributed to this report.
