web1_14045721_1723376337927656_6007025232630786464_n.jpg

State Police: 3-year-old Nescopeck girl found safe after Amber Alert

web1_e-cigarette-1301670_1920.jpg

Chris Hughes: New tax on vapor products will doom my shop and others in Pennsylvania

<p>The litmus test comes Friday night.</p><p>Gone are two weeks of two-a-day practices. Gone are the two scrimmages. The replacement &#8212; one week of double sessions and one scrimmage.</p><p>The PIAA&#8217;s desire to shave a week off the high school football season left districts with two options. They could keep the two weeks of double sessions and two scrimmages and play just nine games. District 2, which encompasses the Wyoming Valley Conference and Lackawanna Conference, opted to keep 10 games, lose a week of practice and ditch a scrimmage.</p><p>Most districts opted to keep 10-game schedules.</p><p>The WVC has 11 games starting at 7 p.m. Friday: Central Mountain at Williamsport; Hazleton Area at Berwick; Honesdale at GAR; Meyers at Lake-Lehman; Nanticoke at Tunkhannock; North Penn at Northwest; Old Forge at Hanover Area; Pittston Area at Crestwood; Scranton at Wyoming Valley West; and Wallenpaupack at Wyoming Area. Holy Redeemer is at Holy Cross at 1 p.m. Saturday.</p><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s going to be some sloppy football that Week Zero,&#8221; Williamsport coach Chuck Crews said. &#8220;And I think that&#8217;s going to be across the board statewide. Anybody playing Week Zero, there&#8217;s going to be sloppy football or vanilla football. Hey, let&#8217;s run dive 40 times because that&#8217;s one play we know we can run.&#8221;</p><p>Did Crews say &#8220;Week Zero&#8221;? Yep, Friday isn&#8217;t Week 1 of the football season, it&#8217;s Week Zero according to the PIAA. Week 1 is next weekend when the WVC and LFC teams will be playing their second games. The WVC and LFC wrap up their 10-game regular-season schedules in Week 9 in the PIAA&#8217;s eyes.</p><p>The whole things can sound confusing &#8212; and that&#8217;s not including the PIAA&#8217;s new six classifications &#8212; so let&#8217;s just say for argument&#8217;s sake that Friday and Saturday are Week 1.</p><p>Speculation began that PIAA was heading in this direction when it instituted in 2013 a heat acclimation week prior to the start of official practices. Athletes needed to complete three consecutive days in a five-day period to be allowed on the practice field.</p><p>The change means this week was spent getting ready for an opponent and not correcting all the flaws from the first scrimmage.</p><p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s going to be a huge difference,&#8221; Northwest coach Lon Hazlet said. &#8220;We tried to stress that to our kids in regards to our summer workout programs. You have a week and a couple days now versus two full weeks. You&#8217;re going to lose somewhere from 5-10 practice before your first game.</p><p>&#8220;We, as I&#8217;m sure other schools have, have been diligent about our summer work and trying to get our installs in and our special teams in.&#8221;</p><p>High school teams in all sports can have out-of-season practices, but they must be voluntary. Football players can&#8217;t wear pads during those practices. The first padded practices were Aug. 15. Northwest participated in 17 7-vs-7 passing competitions leading up to Aug. 15.</p><p>Out-of-season practices and passing competitions have made losing a second scrimmage less painful. The second scrimmage in recent years often resembled the fourth NFL exhibition game. The starters made a cameo and the backups took over from there.</p><p>&#8220;That second scrimmage was like an NFL thing,&#8221; GAR coach Paul Wiedlich Jr. said.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_WVCMediaDay-Williamsport_7-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Crews </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_WVCMediaDay-Williamsport_7-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Crews </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_WVCMediaDay-Northwest_5-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazlet </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_WVCMediaDay-Northwest_5-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Hazlet </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_coug_haz1_faa-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The high school football season kicks off Friday night with 11 WVC games on the schedule. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_coug_haz1_faa-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>The high school football season kicks off Friday night with 11 WVC games on the schedule. </caption2><photoCredit2>Fred Adams file photo | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>WEEK 1 SCHEDULE</strong></p><p><strong>7 p.m. Friday</strong></p><p>Central Mountain at Williamsport</p><p>Hazleton Area at Berwick</p><p>Honesdale at GAR</p><p>Meyers at Lake-Lehman</p><p>Nanticoke at Tunkhannock</p><p>North Penn at Northwest</p><p>Old Forge at Hanover Area</p><p>Pittston Area at Crestwood</p><p>Scranton at Wyoming Valley West</p><p>Wallenpaupack at Wyoming Area</p><p><strong>Saturday</strong></p><p>Holy Redeemer at Holy Cross, 1 p.m.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

WVC Football: Cram sessions lead into tonight’s first games