Behind closed doors, Academy Park told to hit the road

The District One tournament brackets were supposed to be finalized Sunday morning at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.

That never happened.

Instead, what transpired was a debate pertaining to bonus points attributed to District One playoff teams that have played regular-season games against league playoff qualifiers from District 12’s Philadelphia Catholic League and/or Public League. By rule, District One programs that play these schools are to be given bonus points for PCL/Public League playoff wins.

However, the initial determination at Sunday’s seeding meeting was that bonus points for PCL/Public League playoff games would not be used in figuring out the District One tournament seeds. As expected, this caused a lot of problems and confusion, and Academy Park found itself right in the middle of it all.

Pottsgrove, AP’s first-round opponent, received bonus points for its season-opening loss to Ben Franklin, which defeated Samuel Fels in a Public League semifinal last Saturday. That moved the Falcons from the No. 5 seed to the No. 4 seed in the District One Class AAA tournament.

This news didn’t sit well with Academy Park coach Jason Vosheski, who left Sunday’s meeting under the impression that his Knights had won the No. 4 seed and would host Pottsgrove in Friday’s quarterfinal round.

But after a closed-door meeting by committee members and at least one coach of a District One Class AAA playoff team, but no one from Academy Park, it was determined that Pottsgrove rightfully earned those Public League playoff bonus points.

The most glaring issue was that District One failed to give Vosheski his right to due process or include him in the meeting.

“The original ruling (at Sunday’s meeting) was that playoff games did not count for (District One) playoff points,’ Vosheski said. “The committee made their decision behind closed doors and never consulted with us.’

In the end, the District One committee made the mistake of announcing it would not use these bonus points. The playoff bonus points apply in the seeding for the Class AAAA, Class AAA and Class AA tournaments; however, these bonus points are not applicable to the District One/12 Class A Sub-Region, which uses only the results of the first eight weeks in order to accommodate scheduling differences.

The approval of the District One committee is required for changes in how power points are determined. Any changes to the rules normally occur during the offseason months, and not on the morning of a seeding meeting.

Academy Park (8-2) travels to Pottsgrove (7-3) Friday night. Meanwhile, Central League champion Springfield (10-0) claimed the No. 1 seed and hosts No. 8 Interboro (5-5) in a rematch of the teams’ Week 1 clash. Octorara (5-5) snagged the No. 7 seed from Interboro after the Bucs lost to Chester Saturday.

In Class AAAA, Garnet Valley (8-2) is the No. 7 seed and hosts 10th-seeded Central Bucks South Friday night. Haverford (7-3) notched the 16th seed and faces the daunting task of playing No. 1 Coatesville (10-0).

There was an issue regarding the seeding of C.B. South and Suburban One League foe North Penn at Sunday’s meeting. Ultimately, North Penn was handed bonus points for West Catholic’s Catholic League Class AA playoff win Saturday as well as the ninth seed in the tournament.

West Chester Henderson secured bonus points for Chester’s victory over Interboro. The added points bumped Henderson up a few notches to the eighth seed.

In Class A, Delco Christian (7-2) earned the No. 1 seed in the District 1/12 Sub-Region. The Knights host a semifinal game against Bicentennial League rival Jenkintown Saturday at Marple Newtown High School.