Some D9 Basketball Playoff Games Will be Held at Tippin Gym; Wrestling Still at Clearfield

RIDGWAY, Pa. – Some District 9 postseason basketball games will be played at the New Tippin Gym on the campus of Clarion University, but the individual wrestling championships will remain at Clearfield High School.

(District 9 committeeperson John Sherry, the Athletic Director at Coudersport, hands Coudersport players their 2018 D9 Class 2A basketball plaque in the last D9 playoff game ever played at the old Tippin Gym. Some District 9 playoff games will return to the new Tippin Gym this year. Photo by Paul Burdick. Check out more of Burdick’s work here)

That was some of the news that came out of the Tuesday, Jan. 14, District 9 Committee meeting held at Aiello’s Cafe in Ridgway.

See the full minutes from the meeting

According to the minutes from the meeting, quarterfinal, semifinal and champion basketball games in District 9 will be played at neutral sites (not necessarily Clarion University). There was no indication if that included Class 4A semifinal games, which in past seasons were played at home sites.

The individual wrestling championships will be held at Clearfield High School. The District had hoped to hold the championships at Tippin Gym, but there was a conflict on the day the Saturday of the championships with Clarion University basketball that couldn’t be resolved.

The team wrestling tournament will continue to be held at DuBois High School.

TRACK STAYING IN BROOKVILLE FOR 2021

The District Committee also elected to keep the District 9 boys’ and girls’ Class 2A and Class 3A track and field championship meets at Brookville High School for the 2021 season.

The meet is slated to be held Friday, May 21, 2021. The motion carried unanimously with Kristie Bennardi, Bud Brennen, Melissa DeMatteis, Kevin Doverspike, Mike Erickson, Bob Gearhart, Pete Grecco, Bill Howard, Bill Jordan, Tom Lesniewski, Dave Osborne, Randy Reitz, John Sherry, John Stoughton, Terry Straub, Aaron Straub, and Bonnie Wolbert all voting in favor of keeping the meet at Brookville.

PIAA CONSIDERING CHANGING DQ PUNISHMENT TO TWO GAMES

The PIAA Board of Directors at its Jan. 22, 2020, meeting will take into consideration changing the PIAA’s disqualification policy.

The proposed change call for any coach or player ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct before, during, or after a contest to sit out two games and complete the NFHS Sportsmanship Module. The school principal will report to the district sports chairman the corrective action if any further incident occurs.

The current policy calls for a one-game suspension.

So far this school year, through last week, there had been 17 disqualifications across all sports in District 9 for unsportsmanlike conduct.

APPLICATIONS BEING TAKEN FOR FEMALE/MALE PARENTS’ REPRESENTATIVES ON D9 COMMITTEE

Any person interested in being considered for either the female or male parent representative position on the District 9 Committee should submit a letter of interest to chairman Aaron Straub or secretary Bob Tonkin by Aug. 1, 2020.

The current terms for the female and male parent’s representatives expire June 30, 2020.

Representatives who presently serve in this position are welcome to re-apply.

A letter of interest can be e-mail to Straub at strauba@eccss.org or to Tonkin at bptonkin@comcast.net.

BOYS’ GOLF, SWIMMING TO BE IN ST. MARYS IN 2020; GIRLS GOLF TO PUNXSUTAWNEY

The 2020 boys’ golf championship will be held at Bavarian Hills Golf Course in St. Marys with the 2020 girls’ championships to be held at the Punxsutawney County Club.

The District 9 golf committee will be sending out requests for potential sites for the next cycle of tournaments soon.

Also, the 2020 District 9 swimming and divining championships will be held Feb. 28-29 at St. Marys High School.

The D9 swimming committee discussed having a USA Swimming Official observe the district meet.

BASEBALL/SOFTBALL DEADLINES SET; FOOTBALL SEEDING DISCUSSED

The deadline for games to count in seeding consideration for the 2020 baseball and softball playoffs will be Wednesday, May 13, 2020.

In football, the District 9 seeding committee will continue to evaluate the seeding power point system currently used. The number of bye dates in the district and inter-district playoff games is a concern. Eight-man football is also being investigated.

OTHER BUSINESS

In other business the committee:

• Heard from the wrestling committee that a concern had been brought to it about Brookville violating the three tournaments rule in wrestling. It was determined Brookville did not violate the rule.
• Learned that Dan Hoffman, principal at West Forest High School, had withdrawn a request for a hearing concerning granting postseason eligibility for a student-athlete in boys’ basketball. Forest Area, which West Forest plays basketball as part of a co-op with East Forest, will most likely not be participating in the basketball postseason, therefore, making a hearing unnecessary.
• Granted requests from the AML, KSAC and NTL to extend the basketball season to play championship contests. The AML will play semifinal and championship games, the KSAC will play championship games and the NTL will play championship/semifinal games if necessary (two or more teams tie for first place).
• Found out there was an eligibility question about a Bradford High School athlete not residing in the Bradford Area School District. After an investigation, the student’s family resides in the Bradford Area School District.
• Heard an update from Bill Howard on the ongoing process of identifying officials who have 50 years or more of officiating service. The District plans on recognizing all officials with 50 or more years of service.
• Reviewed and approved the monthly “transfer” report from DuBois Central Catholic.
• Approved four transfer requests – one from League City Int. to DuBois; one from Warren to Cranberry, one from St. Marys to Elk County Catholic and one from Ewing to St. Marys. In addition, one foreign exchange student eligibility was approved. A foreign exchange student from Thailand attending Clarion-Limestone.