This week’s fiasco involving the Eastern Conference Class A playoffs was mind-boggling.
Schuylkill Haven, the top seed in the four-team field, eventually earned a bye into the championship game after six schools — Sayre, Canton, Bucktail, Upper Dauphin, Line Mountain and Minersville — declined bids for a variety of reasons. The Hurricanes will face the winner of tonight’s Halifax-Bloomsburg game for the Eastern Conference crown next Friday at Rotary Field.
While the whole situation was pretty comical, it paints a bleak picture for the beloved Eastern Conference.
Like most long-time football fans in our area, I grew up in the glory days of the Eastern Conference. As a young kid I watched Fred Porrino guide Schuylkill Haven into the postseason on an annual basis, where his Hurricanes established a fierce rivalry with perennial champion Lakeland.
The Braves, whose school is in the middle of nowhere (but not as bad as Susquehanna), won titles in 1972, ’75, ’76, and ’77 before Porrino’s squads ended their reign with victories over Lakeland in the 1978 and ’79 championship games. Ask my mother about how I lost the car keys during one of those games at Lakeland and she still cringes.
Long-time fans of Pottsville, Mount Carmel, Mahanoy Area, Shenandoah Valley, Minersville and Tri-Valley can tell similar stories. The last remaining artifacts of Saint Clair’s once-proud program are a pair of Eastern Conference runner-up trophies from 1970 and ’77.
The development of the PIAA playoffs and the rise of the district playoffs slowly killed those glory days and relegated the Eastern Conference to an “NIT-like” tournament. It still has an important role for local teams, but for how long?
There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to the PIAA’s new six-classification format that begins next fall. How many teams are going to be in each class? How many district qualifiers will there be in each class? What kind of PIAA playoff structure will be put in place?
The answers to all those questions will have a direct impact on the Eastern Conference. Similar to what happened this week, it’s quite possible that we’ll get to a point in the very near future where there just won’t be enough teams to field a tournament.
The release of the enrollment numbers for the next two-year PIAA cycle, which is expected around Thanksgiving, will be the first step to answering all those questions.
“We’re waiting like everybody else for the numbers to come out,” said Eastern Conference president Eric Rismiller, the Pottsville athletic director. “We’ll crunch the numbers ourselves. We may have to combine classes. It’s something we’ll look at.
“We still offer a good product,” he continued. “It’s good for teams like an ACC or a Mount Carmel that had decent seasons and still have a chance to play. It’s still worthwhile to have.”
Two years ago, I wrote a column in this space that said the Eastern Conference will have to make changes to survive. It looks like the Eastern Conference will have to do so again.
Playoff Predictions
In the Week 1 edition of Football Friday, I gave my predictions on which teams would win District 11 titles. I’m sticking to them for the most part.
In Class A, I still see Marian beating Tri-Valley in the final. That prediction, however, goes out the window if K.J. Snerr can’t play tonight. If Snerr is out, don’t rule out Mahanoy Area grabbing gold.
Class A: Marian over Tri-Valley
In Class AA, I predicted North Schuylkill beating Northwestern Lehigh in a rematch of last year’s final. In fact, I had the four qualifiers correct in both the Class A and Class AA fields.
My Class AA pick could still happen, but North Schuylkill is going to have to upset Notre Dame-Green Pond to get there. That’s going to be tough. Let’s go with NDGP to beat Northwestern in the final.
Class AA: Notre Dame-GP over Northwestern Lehigh
In Class AAA, I selected Saucon Valley to upend Bethlehem Catholic for the title. Well, that can’t happen since they meet in the semifinals. Let’s switch that pick.
Class AAA: Bethlehem Catholic over Blue Mountain.
In Class AAAA, we’ll keep Parkland as the champ, but change the opponent to Wyoming Valley West since Parkland and Freedom would meet in the semifinals.
Class AAAA: Parkland over Wyoming Valley West
Grand Party
Through 10 weeks, eight rushers and eight passers have reached or surpassed the 1,000-yard mark.
On the ground, Mount Carmel’s Kyle Karycki (1,660), Jim Thorpe’s Robert Heller (1,474), Lehighton’s Wyatt Clements (1,454), Tamaqua’s Bud Moyer (1,152), Mahanoy Area’s Lenny Dulsky (1,125), Shamokin’s Preston Burns (1,019), Mahanoy Area’s Mason Ryan (1,001) and Williams Valley’s Dylan Rabuck (1,000) have reached the grand mark.
Hamburg’s Ignacio Reynoso (959) and Marian’s K.J. Snerr (951) could join them with solid playoff performances.
In the air, Williams Valley’s Nick Rodichok leads all passers with 1,732 yards. Lehighton’s Tyler Cann (1,398), Shenandoah Valley’s Ian McCole (1,387), Upper Dauphin’s Aaron Cleveland (1,228), North Schuylkill’s Bobby Grigas (1,143), Hamburg’s Nick Kuhn (1,080), Tri-Valley’s Jaden Buchanan (1,041) and Marian’s Ethan Kuczynski (1,009) have also hit 1,000 yards.
Blue Mountain’s Mason Freed (759) is the only area passer that still has a realistic shot of joining them.
Player of the Week
Bud Moyer, Tamaqua
There’s a lot of good candidates here, but the senior tailback was the main cog in the Blue Raiders’ rivalry win over Marian, rushing 35 times for 142 yards and three touchdowns.
Honorable Mention: Connor Kerstetter, Blue Mountain; Jaden Buchanan, Tri-Valley; Lenny Dulsky, Mahanoy Area; Jon McBreen, Minersville
(Boyer is sports editor and covers HS football for The Republican-Herald. Follow him on Twitter @pubsportsboss)