The District 9 football championship games are set. Finally.
After several postponements and two consecutive days of trying to find available fields, D-9 football chairman Bob Tonkin announced Friday night that the Class A and Class AA title games will take place in a doubleheader at Karns City on Monday.
Coudersport and Smethport will begin the day’s action in the Class A matchup at 4 p.m., followed by Ridgway and Brockway at 7:30 in Class AA.
The Falcons and Hubbers have already had their championship contest postponed twice — first from Bradford High on Friday and then from DuBois on Saturday afternoon.
“You can’t control the weather, and I believe everyone involved did the best they could to find a location for us to play,” Smethport coach Adam Jack said. “It’s unfortunate that two North teams will have to travel two-and-a-half hours south and past a couple turf fields along the way to Karns City, but thank you to the Gremlins for offering to host and making the effort to clear their field so we can play.”
Nearly every school in the district with a turf field, including Clarion and Brockway, backed out of hosting games because of fears that plowing the field would cause permanent damage to its turf.
In Bradford’s case, the school district had just installed new turf over the summer and was informed by the manufacturer that it wouldn’t be wise to plow the surface so soon.
“It’s extremely unfortunate for Smethport and Coudersport and their fans that they couldn’t go the 30 minutes to Bradford,” Owls Athletic Director Mike Erickson told the Era on Friday. “It is also unfortunate to the Bradford area that we couldn’t host this game and be able to show off our facilities and bring a financial benefit to the school district and the community itself.”
D9Sports.com also reported that Tonkin tried sites outside of D-9, including Warren, but those fields were unavailable as were any grass fields in the surrounding areas.
“Nobody is going to put their neck on the line for a brand new turf,” Erickson added. “That needs to last us another 10-12 years. Unfortunately we got seven or eight inches of snow and it is not feasible for us to host a game.”
The PIAA quarterfinal game between Clearfield and Cathedral Prep will go on as scheduled tonight at 7 p.m. at Slippery Rock.
