Rick O'Brien: Teams at odds over weekend playoff date

Send in the arbitrators.

As of Sunday afternoon, Pioneer Athletic Conference rivals Phoenixville and Pottsgrove were at an impasse over when to meet at a neutral site this weekend to decide the PIAA District 1 Class AAA championship.

Because it must play Spring-Ford at 7 p.m. on Thanksgiving Eve, Phoenixville would like to play the title game Saturday, preferably at night. Pottsgrove, which no longer has a holiday rival, wants to face the Purple Phantoms on Friday night.

With the two schools at loggerheads, District 1 officials - chairman Rod Stone, executive secretary Bob Ruoff, and football chairman Robert Boyer - were expected to meet Monday morning to resolve the issue.

"There's no written rule on it," Ruoff said Sunday, "but when this has come up in the past we've usually moved the game to Saturday. You try to give the team that has to play in the middle of the week an extra day of rest."

Phoenixville does not have the option of dropping its game vs. Spring-Ford. The PAC-10 has a rule that all league games must be "honored."

"We're going to do our best, but we don't want our starters to go 48 minutes with us playing two or three days later," Phantoms coach Bill Furlong said. "We'll probably mix our varsity and JV guys. It won't be a wholesale thing."

Coincidentally, longtime Pottsgrove boss Rick Pennypacker twice has had to deal with a short turnaround between a holiday league contest and a playoff game.

In 2009, for the 43d and final time, the Falcons played St. Pius X - which closed its doors in June 2010 - on Thanksgiving. Two days after a 42-0 shutout of the Winged Lions, they bowed to Interboro, 28-21, in overtime in a Saturday night district final at Coatesville.

In 2007, following a 43-0 romp on Thanksgiving Eve, Pennypacker's squad fell to visiting Garnet Valley, 41-22, in a Friday night District 1-12 subregional final.

"In this area, Thanksgiving games are big," Pennypacker said. "But we gave that up. We gave it up to be a playoff team."

Furlong and Pennypacker spoke Saturday. Congratulations for district semifinal wins were exchanged, but a day to meet in the district final was not agreed on.

"I have a great deal of respect for Rick Pennypacker," Furlong said. "I understand that he just wants the best competitive edge for his team."

As of Sunday, according to both coaches, the schools' athletic directors had not budged on their respective preferences for game day.

So, look for District 1's Big Three - Stone, Ruoff, and Boyer - to intervene and decide the details Monday morning.

Milestones. Thanks to a two-point conversion, No. 1 seed Pottsgrove (10-2) advanced with a 29-28 overtime triumph Friday against No. 5 Strath Haven.

On a "dive option" play, fullback Robby Curtin took a handoff from Tory Hudgins and followed right guard Dylan Pritchard and 6-foot-6, 330-pound right tackle Madison O'Connor into the end zone.

It marked the Falcons' first playoff win over Kevin Clancy's Panthers in five tries. "To finally break though and beat a team like that, I can't be prouder of my kids," Pennypacker said.

And the decision to go for broke after Hudgins made it 28-27 with his 3-yard touchdown run? "The [dive option] is one of our bread-and-butter plays," Pennypacker said. "In the huddle during our timeout, the kids said: 'Let's go for it.' I had no doubt we were going to make it."

No. 3 Phoenixville (9-3) gained the program's first district playoff win by overcoming No. 7 Academy Park, 28-27, Friday.

The Purple Phantoms will try to reverse a 47-7, regular-season loss to the host Falcons. The victor will advance to play District 12 champ Archbishop Wood (11-1) the weekend of Dec. 2-3.

Extra points. The Thanksgiving Day game between Archbishop Ryan and host George Washington (10 a.m.) will be televised live on the Comcast Network. Marc Zumoff, a Washington graduate, will handle the play-by-play duties. . . . Pennridge's Mike Class, a 5-11, 170-pound sophomore, has carried 229 times for 1,454 yards and 14 TDs. He also has 12 catches for 159 yards and a pair of touchdowns. . . . Upper Dublin senior quarterback Andrew Derr finished as the program's all-time leader in four categories: passing attempts (512), completions (271), yardage (3,899), and TD passes (31). He received a sportsmanship award last week from the Norristown Chapter of Football Officials. . . . Conestoga's defense was led by junior linebacker Nick Prestipino (91 tackles, including 27 solos), senior lineman Mark Kaminskas (77, 19), and senior strong safety Zach Gregory (43, 20). Kaminskas registered eight sacks.

Week 13. Here is next weekend's playoff schedule:

District 1 Class AAAA

SEMIFINALS

FRIDAY

No. 5 Garnet Valley (11-1) at No. 1 Council Rock South (11-1), 7

No. 15 Pennsbury (9-3) at No. 11 North Penn (10-2), 7:30

District 1 Class AAA

CHAMPIONSHIP

DAY, SITE AND TIME TBA

No. 3 Phoenixville (9-3) vs. No. 1 Pottsgrove (10-2)

State Class A

FIRST ROUND

SATURDAY

Calvary Christian (8-2) vs. Pius X (11-1), at Salisbury High, Allentown, 1

Team Record

Last week's rankings in parentheses.

1. Archbishop Wood (1) 11-1

2. La Salle (2) 11-1

3. North Penn (4) 10-2

4. Council Rock S. (4) 11-1

5. Garnet Valley (6) 11-1

6. Malvern Prep (5) 9-1

7. Neshaminy (8) 8-4

8. Pennsbury (9) 9-3

9. Downingtown East (7) 9-3

10. Central Bucks S. (NR) 8-4

Under consideration (listed alphabetically): Abington (9-2), Coatesville (9-3), Pottsgrove (10-2), Roman Catholic (7-3), West Chester Henderson (8-3), West Chester Rustin (9-2).

- Rick O'Brien
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