PIAA officials have more hopeful tone as high school sports move forward

Mar. 3—Finally, after a full year of concessions to the coronavirus and gloomy reports about the state of high school sports, a tone of hope emerged Wednesday from the PIAA Board of Directors meeting.

There is, it appears, a light at the end of the COVID tunnel.

With Gov. Tom Wolf easing limits on indoor spectators, it appears that each basketball team that reaches a state championship game could be allowed 600 or more fans, and wrestlers who reach the PIAA championships will be given vouchers for six tickets.

Even better, executive director Dr. Robert Lombardi is hopeful tournaments for spring sports can return to normal and not be limited to a champions-only format, as was the case for fall sports and will be for basketball and team wrestling.

"Reducing all of our qualifiers is painful, because we're limiting opportunities for young people," Lombardi said. "Hopefully some of this (a decrease in COVID cases) and maybe the vaccine will have some impact (so) that we possibly can start moving back to a more regular type of postseason."

Lombardi said the PIAA will monitor COVID reports and make a final determination in mid-April about what its spring sports postseason will look like.

After last year's spring sports schedule was wiped out completely, a return to a full season and full tournaments would be a relief to spring athletes.

The overall picture is much brighter than it was last spring and summer, when there was great uncertainly over how high schools could co-exist with COVID-19.

Fall sports seasons started later, schedules and playoff fields were truncated and some schools, including Reading High, didn't participate at all.

Despite widespread fears, the PIAA boldly moved forward and saw championships completed in all fall sports.

"(It was) us taking the philosophy of taking as much as we could for as many as we could for as long as we could," Lombardi said. "It was very important, and it panned out.

"States like Ohio and us were at the forefront. I think it caused some of our colleges in the Big Ten to flip (their decisions to put sports on hold.)"

Lombardi said 94% of all football contests were played and that just one school each from soccer, field hockey and volleyball had to pull out of the state tournaments. In football, six of 16 teams had to pull out because of COVID issues.

"In the winter, for the most part, most people have played 15 or 16 basketball games, and (that's) with a three-week shutdown that we thought may have been crippling. Our schools have done a pretty good job trying to stay ahead of it."

Lombardi said "a lot of challenges" remain with the upcoming basketball and wrestling championships at Giant Center, regarding logistics.

"The change in spectators (Wolf's announcement to ease restrictions on attendance) was welcome," he said, "but it also offers some challenges."

The Board of Directors approved of the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee's Return to Competition guidelines, much of which is similar to the mitigation efforts taken during the fall and winter. Masks, social-distancing and cleaning surfaces and shared equipment are key. The mask rule will be waived for lacrosse because players wear helmets.

Spring practice can begin March 8, with an option for a March 15 start.

The PIAA is two weeks from a basketball tournament that for the first time since 1971 will include only district champions. Lombardi is hoping that one-and-done approach is one-and-done.

"I'm looking forward to next year," he said. "If we can get back to semi-normal, we will take as many as possible for as long as possible. Expansion of the brackets would be great. Unfortunately, we had to do what we had to do this year."