District 9 Committee Addresses Why Competitive Spirit Championships Were Still Held Jan. 6

RIDGWAY, Pa. – The District 9 committee at its regular meeting Tuesday, Jan. 9, at Aiello’s Cafe in Ridgway, Pa., addressed why the District 9 Competitive Spirit Championships were not rescheduled from Saturday, Jan. 6, despite schools not having school Friday, Jan. 5, because of inclement weather.

(Photo: Keystone won the Co-Ed Division at the District 9 Competitive Spirit Championships. Submitted photo)

(See Complete Committee Minutes)

A number of reasons for not being able to reschedule the event were given including the date entries were due to the PIAA office, the inability to secure four certified judges for a different date, other schedule athletic events, etc.

DCC REPORTS A NUMBER OF TRANSFER REQUESTS NOT SUBMITTED TO THE COMMITTEE

DuBois Central Catholic High School reported that a number of transfer requests were not submitted to the District 9 committee.

The committee, in a motion made by Aaron Straub and seconded by Randy Cathcart, has requested that the DCC administration be present at the next District 9 Committee meeting being held at 9 a.m. March 6 at Aiello’s Cafe to present a plan to prevent a similar incident from occurring again.

CURWENSVILLE FOOTBALL COACH DISPUTE OFFICIALS CLAIM OF LANGUAGE USE

An unidentified Curwensville football coach, in a letter to the District 9 Committee, disputed the language he is accused of using at the conclusion of the District 9 Class 1A football championship game won by Ridgway over Curwensville. The unnamed language in question was reportedly directed at an official and was reported on the official’s disqualification report. The letter from the coach was sent to the PIAA office in Mechanicsburg, Pa.

OFFICIALS REP TO REMIND OFFICIALS NOT TO MAKE COMMENTS TO FANS

The District 9 officials representatives will remind officials not to make comments to people attending games.

The issue arose after a letter was received by the committee concerning an incident between a basketball official and a fan at an Austin basketball game. When the fan was escorted from the gym for alleged unacceptable behavior, the official allegedly made a comment to the fan.

NO UPDATE ON FAN WHO FELL AT DISTRICT 9 CLASS 1A SEMIFINALS

There was no updated information concerning the injuries a woman received from a fall at the District 9 Class 1A football semifinal game between Coudersport at Ridgway Nov. 11 at Mansell Stadium in DuBois. The fan had to be taken to a local hospital for unidentified injuries.

BRENNEN RE-ELECTED MALE OFFICIAL’S REPRESENTATIVE

In a voting of the District 9 officials, Bud Brennen was re-elected as the District 9 Male Official’s Representative.

DISTRICT 10 1A BASEBALL CHAMP TO PLAY D9 THIRD-PLACE TEAM

It was announced that in the Class 1A baseball championship that in 2018 District 10 will declare a champion and that champion will play the third-place team out of District 9 in a sub-regional game with the winner entering the PIAA Tournament.

In 2017, the District 10 champion entered the District 9 playoffs in the semifinal round.

The new format will require the District 9 third-place team to have to play an extra game to reach the PIAA playoffs this year with a consolation contest to then be followed by the sub-regional game. Last year, Clarion beat D10 “champion” Jamestown in the semifinals and then Elk County Catholic toppled Jamestown in the consolation game to earn the PIAA playoff spot. If last year’s brackets were used this year, the winner of the District 9 consolation game would then have had to play Jamestown to reach the PIAA playoffs.

The reason District 10 must play with District 9 in Class 1A is because District 10 only has three teams – Kennedy Catholic, Jamestown and Living Word Christian Academy.