Members of the York-Adams League decided Thursday to delay the start of its fall sports seasons several weeks, shortly before Gov. Tom Wolf said sports shouldn't resume until 2021.
On Thursday morning, the league's principals and athletic directors voted 22-1 to push back the original opening of the season into September, following several other leagues around the state. The delays are spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, with which school boards and administrators have struggled in the face of the approaching fall school term.
The league's decision might not mean much, though, after comments made by Wolf an hour later Thursday morning. When asked about his opinion to the PIAA's recent decision to move forward with fall sports, Wolf said his administration is advising schools to hold off until the new year.
"The guidance from us, the recommendation is that we don't do any sports until Jan. 1," Wolf said.
Only officials from Delone Catholic opposed the York-Adams League proposal.
Delone Catholic athletic director Tim Bonitz said that the choice was made to vote "no" because the original schedule to start practices on Aug. 17 fit better with that school's plan to open with all students in-person.
"It's not that we were against the (delay), we were just in favor of a regular start time as a scheduled," Bonitz said in a phone interview. "We fully support the league's decision. These decisions are not easy to make. Ultimately, a regular start date aligned itself philosophically with our school plans for this upcoming school year."
Official football practices would begin on Sept. 4 with heat acclimation starting on Aug. 31, under the league's new schedule, and the first games would be on Sept. 18. No scrimmages are allowed under the decision.
Golf would begin on Sept. 7, tennis would begin on Sept. 9 and all other sports would begin on Sept. 24.
All contests for the fall will be league-only games. The schedules for fall sports will be released at a later time, league officials said.
The league's schools still reserve the right to decide if they want to suspend their fall sports seasons. During the meeting, it was revealed that during a survey of the league, multiples schools said they would be in favor of not playing in the fall.
In addition to the right to decide to participate in the fall sports season, schools also must make individual decisions on how to start the school year. Majority of Y-A League schools approved in-person plans, with York Suburban, South Western and West York using hybrid models.
Schools are operating under the belief that hybrid or virtual school plans would allow athletes to continue sports, but Wolf recently said it would be hard to justify contact sports if a school is going completely virtual.
The Y-A League schools' decision followed a pair of organizations from the area that delayed the start of their fall seasons.
On Wednesday, the Lancaster-Lebanon League voted 19-6 to push back the start date of most fall sports.
Outside of golf, L-L fall events are expected to begin on Sept. 21, with football games set to start the Sept. 25 weekend.
Earlier this week, the Harrisburg-based Mid-Penn Conference announced it was delaying the start of fall sports practices to Sept. 4. The MPC was the first District 3 conference to announce any sort of delay.
Multiple Y-A teams were originally scheduled to play MPC and L-L squads early in the season.
Last week, the PIAA voted to allow the start of the fall sports season on time. That vote, teams allowed teams to start official fall sports practices on Aug. 17, with heat acclimation beginning on Aug. 10.
Individual leagues and school districts are free to make their own decisions about when to start their fall seasons.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Reach Rob Rose at rrose@yorkdispatch.com.
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