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Times Leader P.M. Update: Tuesday, Jan. 26

The PIAA could be considering changes to its state football playoffs down the road.
				The Board of Directors will meet Wednesday afternoon and will be presented with the minutes of the football steering committee, which met two weeks ago. Part of that discussion centered on the recently completed state playoffs under revisions because of the COVID-19 pandemic and how they could be applied in the future.
				No action will likely be taken Wednesday by the board because the football steering committee indicated that some items &ldquo;may be worthy of future discussion.&rdquo;
				The football steering committee discussed starting the season earlier and ending it the week before Thanksgiving in order to take advantage of better weather and allow a break for athletes between the fall and winter sports seasons.
				This past regular season was set to start Aug. 28 and end Oct. 31 but was delayed because of the pandemic. The state playoffs started the following weekend and finished the weekend of Nov. 27-28.
				The football steering committee also brought up the idea of reducing the number of playoff qualifiers at the district and subregional levels.
				This past season, District 2 held championship games in Class 3A and 4A only on the weekend of Nov. 6-7. The top District 2 teams in Class A and 5A were in a subregional playoffs with District 1 and District 11, respectively, although no D2/11-5A playoffs occurred since District 11 decided not to participate because of COVID-19 concerns.
				The D2-2A champion went directly to the state playoffs. District 2 was able to arrange a Class 6A championship game the final weekend of the regular season because of some schedule flexibility with those teams.
				Nine District 2 football teams made the postseason in 2020 because of the truncated schedule compared to 24 in 2019.
				The PIAA sets the dates for the regular season and the state playoffs. The window in between is for districts to determine the setup for their playoffs. If the PIAA eventually decides to end the state playoffs the final weekend of November and doesn&rsquo;t start the regular season sooner, the district playoffs would be affected. Again, this is just in the discussion stages.
				Other topics brought up were having the team listed at the top of the bracket host the state playoff game, usage of electronic ticketing and eliminating long road trips for teams the day before or the morning of an 11 a.m. kickoff for a state championship game.
				A few other nuggets from the football steering committee meeting:
				&#8226; Six of 96 teams involved in the state playoffs had to forfeit games because of COVID-19 situations, including Wyoming Valley West. The committee added that the PA Football News reported 3,226 of 3,432 games scheduled (94%) were played across the state.
				The Wyoming Valley Conference had 14 games canceled, although some of the teams were able to find replacement opponents. Lake-Lehman and Nanticoke Area were the only teams able to play their original eight-game season without any significant alterations.
				&#8226; District 6 representative Ralph Cecere voiced concerns from his area schools regarding junior high student-athletes repeating grades prior to their freshman year for athletic reasons. Currently, student-athletes have eight consecutive semesters of eligibility once they reach ninth grade. An option discussed was changing it to 12 consecutive semesters of eligibility starting in seventh grade.
				&#8226; District 3 representative John Ziegler told the committee that the modification of the junior varsity rules &mdash; where a controlled scrimmage replaced a game &mdash; was well received in his area. The committee recommended the modification continue in 2021 to gather more information from throughout the state.

H.S. Football: Schedule changes a possibility for PIAA down the road