Claiming Your piece of the Turf ...
-
THE CHOPS
- Official BleacherCoach
- Posts: 1900
- Joined: October 24th, 2003, 10:42 am
- Location: SCOTTDALE, PA.
Claiming Your piece of the Turf ...
It must be high school football playoff season. People are complaining.
Not about football. About sites.
Nothing new there. The sport within the sport is to spout off about where games are played, as opposed to who's playing them.
Normally, the complaining is just fan steam that disappears into the atmosphere.
But in this specific case -- Abington Heights losing an earned District #2-11 Class (AAAA) home game against Bethlehem Liberty -- the moaning has some merit.
Which is: being thrown under the bus by your own district committee.
Let's review. Abington Heights (10-1) compiled enough points to claim the No. #2 seed in the eight-team District #2-11 sub-region; only unbeaten Parkland had more.
The rules were long established. The higher seed gets a home game throughout the playoffs, although a district committee has the right to seek an alternate site if it deems a home site unplayable.
Abington Height's field, Comets Stadium, was good enough last week in its 14-7 triumph over Hazleton in what amounted to the District #2-(AAAA) championship game. And it earned the Comets the same home field for this week's 2-11 semifinal game with Liberty (10-1), which mauled Delaware Valley 42-13.
Except that playing in Clarks Summit, Abington Heights' locale, wasn't acceptable to Liberty.
Almost as soon as the site was announced, Liberty complained through District #11 chairman Jack Wabby that Comets Stadium (capacity: 3,000) was too small.
And maybe it is. Our Scranton spies acknowledge that the place is cozy, with Bishop McDevitt-like parking. But the stadium, renovated in 2001, is one of the cleanest and neatest in the district. It's just a little ... tight.
It must be acknowledged that Liberty has a very impressive following, as evidenced by the large number of fans that showed up at Hersheypark Stadium for last year's PIAA Class (AAAA) championship game against McKeesport.
For this week's game, the school claimed it would bring 1,500 fans and its 230-member band to Abington Heights, about "75" miles northwest of Bethlehem.
Abington Heights officials scrambled and came up with concessions, including moving students to temporary seating in the end zone and doing what it could about its limited parking.
Not good enough, huffed the D#-11 folks. They wanted a Super Wal-Mart, not a local Ace Hardware store.
So District #2 caved like an unsupported mine shaft. It moved the game from The Pit, as it is known locally, to Pittston. The game will be played in the 8,000-seat Charley Trippi Stadium, but even that was an alternate choice.
The game was going to be placed at Scranton's Memorial Stadium, but Abington Heights, pushed around like a shopping cart, had finally had enough. Memorial Stadium has the same FieldTurf as Liberty's recently renovated Banko Stadium; Abington Heights plays on grass.
So Abington Heights finally got one concession when the game was moved to Pittston, which also has a grass surface. But it lost the home game, a prize for which it had fought all season.
Sorry, but from our end, this looks a lot like bullying. There's little question that Liberty is the solid favorite on the field; District #11 teams routinely smack around District# 2 teams. See Easton's easy 28-0 romp over once-beaten Wyoming Valley West as well as Liberty's execution of Delaware Valley as the most recent evidence.
So we don't think it's a stretch to see a D-#11 team popping out its pecs and trying to muscle a District #2 team out of its perch. The trouble is, it worked.
The squabble over the Abington Heights-Liberty venue has overshadowed the really big news this week, which also comes out of District 11.
And that is: No.# 2 Parkland, which struggled in its quarterfinal game with East Stroudsburg South, finally, finally meeting No.# 4 Easton in the other semifinal game.
Parkland navigated smoother waters to get to this point; the Trojans played neither Easton nor Liberty in the regular season. All season long, fans in the Lehigh Valley have been waiting for this game.
By the way, Liberty quarterback Dan Persa, who is making a move for Class (AAAA) player of the year, went 12-for-12 passing for 202 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for "104" yards and three more TDs against Delaware Valley.
Also of note:
Council Rock North, one of two unbeatens in the District #1-(AAAA) expanded playoff field, was knocked off by No. #16 Abington 21-20. North trailed most of the game, rallied to within a point but missed an extra point with 39.5 seconds left. North head coach Mike Ortman told the Bucks County Courier-Times, "We got a bad draw. When you're a first seed, you hope to get a little softer spot."
Not about football. About sites.
Nothing new there. The sport within the sport is to spout off about where games are played, as opposed to who's playing them.
Normally, the complaining is just fan steam that disappears into the atmosphere.
But in this specific case -- Abington Heights losing an earned District #2-11 Class (AAAA) home game against Bethlehem Liberty -- the moaning has some merit.
Which is: being thrown under the bus by your own district committee.
Let's review. Abington Heights (10-1) compiled enough points to claim the No. #2 seed in the eight-team District #2-11 sub-region; only unbeaten Parkland had more.
The rules were long established. The higher seed gets a home game throughout the playoffs, although a district committee has the right to seek an alternate site if it deems a home site unplayable.
Abington Height's field, Comets Stadium, was good enough last week in its 14-7 triumph over Hazleton in what amounted to the District #2-(AAAA) championship game. And it earned the Comets the same home field for this week's 2-11 semifinal game with Liberty (10-1), which mauled Delaware Valley 42-13.
Except that playing in Clarks Summit, Abington Heights' locale, wasn't acceptable to Liberty.
Almost as soon as the site was announced, Liberty complained through District #11 chairman Jack Wabby that Comets Stadium (capacity: 3,000) was too small.
And maybe it is. Our Scranton spies acknowledge that the place is cozy, with Bishop McDevitt-like parking. But the stadium, renovated in 2001, is one of the cleanest and neatest in the district. It's just a little ... tight.
It must be acknowledged that Liberty has a very impressive following, as evidenced by the large number of fans that showed up at Hersheypark Stadium for last year's PIAA Class (AAAA) championship game against McKeesport.
For this week's game, the school claimed it would bring 1,500 fans and its 230-member band to Abington Heights, about "75" miles northwest of Bethlehem.
Abington Heights officials scrambled and came up with concessions, including moving students to temporary seating in the end zone and doing what it could about its limited parking.
Not good enough, huffed the D#-11 folks. They wanted a Super Wal-Mart, not a local Ace Hardware store.
So District #2 caved like an unsupported mine shaft. It moved the game from The Pit, as it is known locally, to Pittston. The game will be played in the 8,000-seat Charley Trippi Stadium, but even that was an alternate choice.
The game was going to be placed at Scranton's Memorial Stadium, but Abington Heights, pushed around like a shopping cart, had finally had enough. Memorial Stadium has the same FieldTurf as Liberty's recently renovated Banko Stadium; Abington Heights plays on grass.
So Abington Heights finally got one concession when the game was moved to Pittston, which also has a grass surface. But it lost the home game, a prize for which it had fought all season.
Sorry, but from our end, this looks a lot like bullying. There's little question that Liberty is the solid favorite on the field; District #11 teams routinely smack around District# 2 teams. See Easton's easy 28-0 romp over once-beaten Wyoming Valley West as well as Liberty's execution of Delaware Valley as the most recent evidence.
So we don't think it's a stretch to see a D-#11 team popping out its pecs and trying to muscle a District #2 team out of its perch. The trouble is, it worked.
The squabble over the Abington Heights-Liberty venue has overshadowed the really big news this week, which also comes out of District 11.
And that is: No.# 2 Parkland, which struggled in its quarterfinal game with East Stroudsburg South, finally, finally meeting No.# 4 Easton in the other semifinal game.
Parkland navigated smoother waters to get to this point; the Trojans played neither Easton nor Liberty in the regular season. All season long, fans in the Lehigh Valley have been waiting for this game.
By the way, Liberty quarterback Dan Persa, who is making a move for Class (AAAA) player of the year, went 12-for-12 passing for 202 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for "104" yards and three more TDs against Delaware Valley.
Also of note:
Council Rock North, one of two unbeatens in the District #1-(AAAA) expanded playoff field, was knocked off by No. #16 Abington 21-20. North trailed most of the game, rallied to within a point but missed an extra point with 39.5 seconds left. North head coach Mike Ortman told the Bucks County Courier-Times, "We got a bad draw. When you're a first seed, you hope to get a little softer spot."