ST. MARYS, Pa. – The District 9 committee voted Wednesday to establish a basketball-seeding committee to seed teams for the 2020-21 District 9 basketball championship tournament.
The action is a change in how District 9 has historically seeded basketball teams with a variety of math-based seeding formulas used over the years.
According to committee member Dave Osborne, the change, which is only in effect for one year currently, was made because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Osborne also said the committee realized that teams could easily be playing a different number of games while also acknowledging the “IU9 Bubble” where schools located in the Intermediate Unit 9 (all schools north of Brockway outside of Clarion County expect for Sheffield) will only play each other during the regular season.
The motion to go to establish a seeding committee, which was proposed by John Sherry of Coudersport and seconded by male parent representative Kevin Doverspike of the New Bethlehem area, based unanimously.
TICKET PRICES SET FOR WINTER SPORTS CHAMPIONSHIPS
If fans are allowed to attend winter sports championships, the cost of all tickets will be $6, and District 9 will use HomeTown Ticket Company to sell the tickets.
BROADCAST FEES SET
The committee also set broadcast fees for media outlets and schools wishing to either live-video or live-audio stream postseason events in District 9.
The cost to do an all-day video stream of an event – an example all day of individual wrestling, swimming, or multiple basketball games – will be $250, while a single event will be $125. If no commercial broadcasting entity (like D9and10Sports.com) elects to do video coverage for an event then the single-event fee for a school “sponsored, directed and produced stream” on their school or sports site will be $75.
All radio fees, including online radio, will be $50 per game up to the final and $75 for the finals.
Radio fee – $50.00 prior to finals
Radio fee – $75.00 for finals
The motion carried with one negative vote. (Terry Straub)
BROCKWAY AD REQUESTS D9 USE VARISCHETTI FIELD IN 2021
Brockway athletic director Pete Greco requested the district committee consider using Brockway’s football and soccer field (Varischetti Field) as the venue for numerous events for the 2021 fall sports season.
During the 2020 fall sports season just completed, Brockway was willing to host many events during the covid-19 pandemic.
The committee said sports chairpersons will consider the request.
NEW CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR ANNOUNCED
With the PIAA electing to go with different formats for postseason play for the 2020-21 winter sports, District 9 adjusted its calendar as well.
Basketball
Schools must announce their intention to enter the open tournament no later than 9 a.m. March 3.
The Class 1A boys’ and girls’ District 9 tournaments will be held between March 8 and March 16 while the Cass 2A, Class 3A, and Class 4A boys’ and girls’ tournaments will be held between March 8 and March 13.
In boys’ Class 3A, District 9 will also compete in a subregional with Districts 5 and 8 between March 15 and March 18. In boys’ Class 4A, District 9 will compete in a subregional with District 8 between March 15 and March 17, and in Class 5A – DuBois is the only Class 5A school in District 9 – District 9 will compete in a subregional with Districts 8 and 10 between March 10 and March 17.
In girls’ Class 4A, District 9 will compete in a subregional with Districts 8 and 10 between March 15 and March 18, and in Class 5A – DuBois is the only Class 5A school in District 9 – District 9 will participate in a subregional with Districts 6 and 8 between March 8 and March 17.
The PIAA Tournament will only include District (or subregional – if the D9 champion moves into the subregional) champions.
The new brackets show the following:
Boys’ Class 1A
The District 9 champion receives a bye into the quarterfinals where it will play the District 6 champion March 19 (District 10’s champion will play in the first round against the District 5 champion March 16 with the winner playing the WPIAL champion in the quarterfinals March 19).
Boys’ Class 2A
The District 9 champion will play a first-round game against the District 5 champion March 17 with the winner taking on the WPIAL champion in the quarterfinals March 20 (District 10’s champion will get a bye into the quarterfinals and play the District 6 champion March 20).
Boys’ Class 3A
If the District 9 champion wins the subregional, it will play the WPIAL champion in the quarterfinals March 20 (District 10’s champion will play the District 6 champion in the quarterfinals March 20).
Boys’ Class 4A
If the District 9 champion wins the subregional, it will play the WPIAL champion in the quarterfinals March 19 (District 10’s champion will play the District 6 champion in the quarterfinals March 19).
Boys’ Class 5A
The winner of the subregional between Districts 8, 9, and 10 will take on the WPIAL champion in the quarterfinals March 20.
Boys’ Class 6A
District 9 doesn’t have a Class 6A team, but District 10 will play in a subregional with District 6 and 8 with the winner of that subregional playing the WPIAL champion in the quarterfinals March 20.
Girls’ Class 1A
The District 9 champion receives a bye into the quarterfinals where it will play the District 6 champion March 20 (District 10’s champion will play in the first round against the District 5 champion March 17 with the winner playing the WPIAL champion in the quarterfinals March 20).
Girls’ Class 2A
The District 9 champion will play a first-round game against the District 5 champion March 16 with the winner taking on the WPIAL champion in the quarterfinals March 19 (District 10’s champion will get a bye into the quarterfinals and play the District 6 champion March 19).
Girls’ Class 3A
The District 9 champion will face the winner of the subregional between Districts 5 and 8 in the first round March 16 with the winner facing the WPIAL champion in the quarterfinals March 19 (District 10’s champion will face District 6’s champion in the quarterfinals March 19).
Girls’ Class 4A
The winner of the subregional between Districts 8, 9, and 10 will play the WPIAL champion in the quarterfinals March 20
Girls’ Class 5A
The winner of the subregional between Districts 6, 8, and 9 will play the District 3 champion in the quarterfinals March 20.
Girls’ Class 6A
District 9 doesn’t have a Class 6A team, but District 10 will play in a subregional with District 6 and 8 with the winner of that subregional playing the WPIAL champion in the quarterfinals March 20.
Semifinal games in all classifications will be played either March 22 or March 23 with the championship games to take place at the Giant Center in Hershey between March 25 and March 27.
Team Wrestling
The District 9 Class 2A and Class 3A (which is a combined tournament with District 4) team championships are set for Feb. 6 at DuBois High school with the champion in Class 2A advancing to take on the District 5 champion and the champion in Class 3A advancing to take on the District 8 champion. Both of those first-round PIAA bouts will be Feb. 8 at a District 9 site.
The winners of the PIAA first-round bouts will then advance to semifinal bouts Feb. 10 with the Class 2A finals being held Feb. 12 at the Giant Center in Hershey and the Class 3A finals being held Feb. 13 at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Individual Wrestling
The District 9 Class 2A and Class 3A championship finals will be held Feb. 20 at Clearfield High School. A regional tournament will then be held Feb. 27 with Class 2A being held at Sharon High School and Class 3A at Altoona Area High school. A super regional will then be held March 6 at locations to be announced. The championship finals in Class 2A will take place March 12 at the Giant Center in Hershey with the championship finals in Class 3A taking place March 13 at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Swimming & Diving
The District 9 Class 2A and Class 3A swimming and diving championships will be held on March 5 and March 6 at Clearfield High School. The PIAA championships will be held March 17-20 at a site to be announced.
COMPETITIVE SPIRIT CHAMPIONSHIPS TO BE AT MONITEAU
The committee also held a meeting Dec. 9.
At that meeting, a decision was made to hold the District 9 2021 Competitive Spirit Championship at Moniteau. The championships at been held at DuBois in previous years, but the school elected not to host them this year. The date for the District 9 championships has yet to be determined. The PIAA has set the date of the PIAA Championships for April 9-10. The Competitive Spirt Championship is usually held in January but has been delayed this year because of COVID-19.
REPORT ON CHAMPIONSHIP PLAQUES, MEDALS
Also at the Dec. 9 meeting, the Committee adopted the following criteria for championship Committeemen Mike Erickson and Kevin Doverspie presented a report on District 9 championship team plaques and medals.
According to the report, the District will award championship plaques and medals in all sports and classifications in which the District 9 Committee anticipates hosting a championship event. In sports and classifications in which there is no District 9 team championship anticipated, there will be no awards presented. However, teams advancing into a subregional without having the
opportunity to compete for a championship will have the ability to earn subregional championship team
plaques and medals by winning the subregional tournament. In the sport of Competitive Spirit, due to the nature of state qualifiers, in the event there is only one team competing in a classification, that team would need to finish in a state-qualifying position to earn the District 9 Championship plaque and medals. For schools that do not qualify to receive awards can purchase awards that read PIAA Qualifier rather than District 9 Champion (this last part was a separate motion).
