Wyoming Valley Conference athletic directors took actions in a Wednesday morning meeting that could get Pittston Area and Wyoming Area sports teams started on their winter seasons in early-to-mid January.
Wednesday’s WVC meeting followed Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association and District 2 meetings Tuesday. All three shaped what sports could look like locally if Gov. Tom Wolf allows them to resume on the high school level as currently scheduled Jan. 4 at 8 a.m.
Before agreeing on the latest versions of WVC winter sports schedules for conference play, athletic directors first shared what playing date each will become eligible, according to the latest PIAA rules and the number of practices each team has completed.
Depending on practices already completed, teams can become eligible for their first competitions somewhere between Jan. 8 and Jan. 15.
Pittston Area assistant athletic director Joe Struckus reported that all teams at the school will be ready for competition Jan. 9.
Wyoming Area athletic director Joe Pizano reported that the girls basketball team will be ready Jan. 9, but the boys basketball and wrestling teams will need until Jan. 11. As reported earlier, Wyoming Area will not have swimming teams active this season while repairs are needed at the school pool.
The WVC athletic directors agreed to schedules that will start conference wrestling Jan. 9, girls basketball, boys swimming and girls swimming Jan. 14 and boys swimming Jan. 15.
Basketball teams at both local schools will have the chance to schedule non-league games between when they become eligible for games and the first scheduled WVC dates.
WVC president Fred Barletta, the Hazleton Area athletic director, praised his colleagues for their adaptability with the constant changes as they answer to different authorities during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve handled this as best we could in very trying circumstances,” he said.
Wyoming Area has one of the wrestling matches that will have to be rescheduled from the schedule that was approved Wednesday.
“We don’t have to draw the entire schedule over three meets,” said Corry Hanson from Meyers High School, who created the latest version of the schedule.
The Warriors would have wrestled at Nanticoke Jan. 9 if they were eligible on that date.
The WVC chose to move its meeting to Wednesday after learning of the state and district meetings on Tuesday.
Frank Majikes was involved in all three meetings and was able to relay developments to each subsequent meeting.
Majikes serves as president of the PIAA Board of Directors, chairman of PIAA District 2 and boys basketball officials assignor for the WVC.
In his District 2 role, Majikes said he is hoping to organize cooperation between the WVC and the Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association, which oversees Lackawanna League sports, to make the transition form a disrupted regular season into district play go as smoothly as possible in current conditions.
“My goal is to get the LIAA and the Wyoming Valley Conference together as much as we can so that we’re on the same page,” Majikes said.
Majikes may see if it is feasible to get all District 2 athletic directors into a meeting during the holiday week.
Barletta said during the district and WVC meetings that the WVC’s current position is being in favor of a minimum of eight games completed for basketball teams to be eligible for the district tournament.
If the WVC and Lackawanna League agree on that number, the District 2 committee is very likely to use that as a rule for this season’s playoffs.
District 2 basketball playoff dates have not been finalized yet, but the two leagues finishing at similar dates would be helpful. The state reduced its state basketball and dual meet wrestling tournaments to champions only, which shortened the state events and revised the deadlines for completing the regular season and district tournaments.
There could be changes in district formats, such as using home gyms of higher seeds, possibly even through the finals. There are questions about the feasibility of the 2021 championships being held at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, but Majikes said no decision has been made and one is not likely until at least after an upcoming meeting he will have with arena representatives.
The biggest news out of Tuesday afternoon’s PIAA meeting was a unanimous passing of a motion to decrease the minimum preseason practices from 15 to 10.
That decision will get more teams eligible to play sooner following the Gov. Wolf’s suspension of activities from Dec. 12 at 12:01 a.m. until Jan. 4.
Unless there are other changes, teams can practice Jan. 4-7 and, as long as they already had six or more practices in previously, be ready to play Jan. 8.
PIAA executive director Robert Lombardi said the decision was made “to give schools opportunity to maximize as many play dates as possible.”
The PIAA also decided to delay its team dual meet wrestling championship until after individual tournament competition, allowing an expansion of what had been a shrinking window for regular-season wrestling.
