PIAA rejects Thursday kickoff request for WPIAL football season

By: Chris Harlan
Tuesday, September 1, 2020 | 1:19 PM

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High school football season won’t start on a Thursday night.

The WPIAL had hoped to let some teams kickoff one day early — on Sept. 10 — but the PIAA denied that request, WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said Tuesday.

The first date football teams can play a regular-season game is Sept. 11.

The WPIAL has encouraged schools to schedule some football games on Thursdays or Saturdays this fall to accommodate a shortage of officials.

Hampton and Mars were tentatively scheduled to play a Thursday opener, but that game will be moved to Sept. 11, Mars football coach/athletic director Scott Heinauer said.

The issue involves the PIAA bylaws, Scheuneman said. The bylaws say competition can’t begin until the 19^th day of the season. Sept. 10 would be Day 18.

Teams can scrimmage later this week.

The PIAA requires 10 days of practice before a scrimmage and 15 practice days before a regular-season game.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Hampton, Mars