District 9 looking at shakeup

by Tom Roof, a Times Herald sports writer

Posted on April 21, 2009

Bradford High School, which had to re-tool its football schedule last year to account for changes in the District 9 Class AAA League, may be having to re-work its entire sports schedule in the very near future.

According to reports in the southern part of the district, it seems Clearfield High School is on track to leave District 9 and join the District 6 Mountain Athletic Conference All-Sports League.

In a move confirmed by Clearfield Athletic Director Jon Mikesell, the ADs in the Mountain Conference recently voted unanimously to recommend asking Clearfield and Juniata to join the conference.

The move must be approved by the school administrators, and the District 9 board must also approve letting Clearfield leave.

Mikesell told the Clearfield Progress that the Mountain Athletic Conference would allow the Bisons to compete against schools of comparable size and less against smaller schools. He also said the conference will provide greater coverage by major media outlets in the State College and Altoona region, thus giving the school's athletes more media exposure.

Currently, the MAC schools include Bald Eagle, Bellefonte, Central Mountain, Central High, Indian Valley, Huntingdon, Lewistown, Penns Valley, Phillipsburg and Tyrone.



Most of those schools are located along the Interstate 80 and Route 320 corridor and are already on Clearfield's schedule in most sports.

WHILE THE move could be good for Clearfield, the fallout could include the end to at least the District 9 Class AAA wrestling championships as we know them now.

The district has faced some criticism for its five-team tourney and three Northwest Regional qualifiers. Currently, Bradford, Clearfield, DuBois High, Punxsutawney and St. Marys are the only Class AAA schools in the district.

If Clearfield leaves, you can expect the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) to take a hard look at the D-9 tourney and consider the possibility of combining the championships with the District 6 tournament.

A decision by District 6 to officially invite Clearfield is expected to come in early May. If approved, the Bisons would become a league member for the start of the fall 2010 athletic season.

IT'S UNLIKELY the PIAA will move the state wrestling championships out of Hershey and the Giant Center, but the state athletic governing body is entertaining proposals to host the championships.

Among the requests for proposals were the Cambria County War Memorial Arena in Johnstown, the Peterson Events Center at the University at Pittsburgh, the Sovereign Center in Reading, the Wachovia Arena in Wilkes-Barre, the Lancaster County Convention Center, and the Tullio Arena in Erie.

(Tom Roof, a Times Herald sports writer, can be reached at troof@oleantimesherald.com)

[ return to previous page ]