‘Travel issues’ postpone Penn Wood trip to D.C.

Penn Wood’s trip to Washington D.C. Saturday never hit the road.

What the school called “travel issues” led to the cancellation of the Patriots’ football game against Friendship Collegiate Charter Academy Saturday, costing the Del Val title contenders a game this season.

Per coach Ato Troop, a scheduling miscue led to a late bus arrival Saturday. With the game scheduled for 1 p.m. and Friendship only having the venue it was playing at, Spingarn High School, until 4 p.m., there was no time for Penn Wood to get to Washington, warm up and still play. The game will not be rescheduled.

The game dents Penn Wood’s push for a high playoff seed. As of Saturday night, it sits sixth in the District 1 Class 5A rankings, which would put it in position to host a first-round playoff game. With both Academy Park and Strath Haven, the teams directly ahead of it, losing this weekend, Penn Wood misses a chance to make up points and gain that guaranteed second home game.

It also is one less game for quarterback Desman Johnson to add to the Delco all-time passing yardage record, which he set last week against Interboro. Johnson has 7,024 passing yards.