125611477_web1_psu_1

Penn State’s Franklin, Barbour discuss hopes for returning to action

Black Lives Matter supporters disrupt Loeffler event

The Wyoming Valley Conference football schedule wasn&rsquo;t the only thing crumpled up and thrown in the wastebasket because of COVID-19. The original football scrimmage schedule was tossed away as well.
				A new scrimmage schedule begins Friday with a pair of 6 p.m. matchups &mdash; Dallas at Crestwood and Hazleton Area at Wyoming Area.
				At 9 a.m. Saturday, Wilkes-Barre Area is at Nanticoke Area. At 10 a.m., Holy Redeemer is at Pittston Area, Southern Columbia is at Berwick, Riverside is at Tunkhannock and Central Mountain is at Williamsport. Northwest, which left the WVC for the Northern Tier League, will host Muncy at 10 a.m.
				Three teams don&rsquo;t have scrimmages &mdash; Hanover Area, Wyoming Valley West and Lake-Lehman. The school boards at Hanover Area and Valley West shut down fall sports for a brief period last week, but it was just enough for neither to have the required number of practices completed in order to scrimmage.
				Hanover Area also lost its first game of the season and won&rsquo;t play until Sept. 18 when the Hawkeyes host Holy Redeemer. The game was originally scheduled for Sept. 19 at Redeemer. Hanover Area also lost a second game on Oct. 23, but found a replacement in Scranton.
				Scranton had a void when its original opponent on a truncated five-week Lackawanna Conference schedule, Abington Heights, canceled its fall contact sports, including football. The game will be at Hanover Area.
				While having Class 3A Hanover Area play Class 6A Scranton isn&rsquo;t ideal under normal circumstances, nothing has been normal for football. The WVC had an original 10-game schedule, a revised 10-game schedule which was revised again, a seven-game schedule and an eight-game schedule which was revised four times to what it is today.
				When the musical chairs of scrimmages ended, Lehman didn&rsquo;t have anywhere to sit. The Black Knights were originally scheduled to scrimmage Valley West. So they&rsquo;ll go into their opener with Berwick on Sept. 11 untested.
				The original scrimmage schedule had six WVC teams facing Lackawanna Conference teams. The Lackawanna Conference, though, isn&rsquo;t starting play until Oct. 2. The exception is Riverside, which will start play Sept. 11 at Wyoming Area and face Tamaqua on Sept. 25. Riverside originally agreed to fill the first three voids on the WVC schedule created when the Hanover Area school board cancelled sports only to rescind the decision four days later.
				The most anticipated opener of the original regular season, Southern Columbia at Berwick, will now be a scrimmage.
				The most unique situation is the Redeemer at Pittston Area scrimmage. They open up the season against each other Sept. 12 at Redeemer.

High school football scrimmages set for Friday and Saturday