BENSALEM, Pa. – The Philadelphia Catholic League is taking a pass on high school fall sports and that includes football. The announcement came down Monday and that goes against last week’s overwhelming vote by their Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association brethren to push and play.
Earlier this month, the Philadelphia Public League suspended all fall athletics and another suburban league and other school districts opted out of sports because of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus. However, there’s a strong chance powerhouse St. Joseph’s Prep (Philadelphia), No. 7 in the Blue Star Media Elite 25 preseason football rankings, could operate as an independent.
Prep is not operated by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia but by the Society of Jesus (Jesuit fathers) thereby allowing it and league members Devon Prep and La Salle College Prep (Wyndmoor, Pa.)—also non archdiocesan schools—to play this fall. The AOP oversees the Philadelphia Catholic League
The biggest issue would be scheduling games locally. Prep and La Salle could meet twice but would not to add a handful of games to round out their fixtures before the PIAA playoffs.
“After much careful thought, consultation and prayer a decision has been reached that all of our high schools will opt out of interscholastic competition for the fall 2020 season. We recognize that this news is disappointing to many of our students, families and coaches, particularly our seniors. It saddens us greatly as well,” the AOP prepared statement said.
St. Joseph’s Prep is one of the nation’s top programs and was the favorite to repeat as PIAA Class AAAAAA and Red league champions. Archbishop Wood (Warminster, Pa.) bagged the PIAA Class AAAAA in 2019 and would shift to the spring if that’s the decision.
As Prep continues to weigh its options, having won four state titles in the last six years, the AOP feels the pain of the student-athletes affected by this decision.
“Given the nature of athletic competition and the manner in which COVID-19 is transmitted, there is currently no way for us to reasonably provide for the health and safety of student-athletes as well as those with whom they come into contact,”the statement said.
There’s a chance the fall sports football, field hockey, golf, cross-country, volleyball, tennis and soccer could be played in 2021 but no decision has been made.
As of Monday, 17 states and the District of Columbia have rescheduled football seasons for the winter or spring. Catholic leagues from Washington, D.C. (WCAC), Baltimore (MIAA) and Philadelphia are among those concerned about the coronavirus.
