When District 1 announced late Thursday night that all of Friday’s postseason action would be postponed, many looked out the window at the bone-dry conditions and wondered what all the fuss was about.
In the end, the folks who made that call were more plugged in than many meteorologists. Friday’s weather knocked out power across the area, covered roads and sent schools scrambling to get kids home safely.
Now, we’re left to pick up the pieces of a busy weekend.
On the wrestling mat, the PIAA Class 3A Southeastern Regional at Oxford Area High School is slated to begin Saturday morning at 9 a.m. with designs on completing the tournament in one day.
Officials are going to push the meet forward with limited breaks, and hope to finish everything Saturday. But if any wrestlers end up hitting the limit for matches in a day, those consolation matches will take place at 9 a.m. Sunday morning back at Oxford.
In the pool, there is no way to compress the District 1 Championships into one day, but the change is simple to follow. Events originally scheduled for Friday at La Salle University will now take place Saturday, and Saturday’s schedule is moved to Sunday.
Class 2A and 3A boys will kick things off with half their program at 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning, with warmups at 8:45. The Day 1 events are the 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle, 200 IM, 50 free, 100 fly and 200 free replay. Fans can enter the balcony at 9 a.m.
The girls will swim half their program starting at 3:30 p.m. (the same events as the boys). Warmups at 1:45 and doors open for fans at 2 p.m.
The same boys/girls times apply on Sunday, with the 100 free, 500 free, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 400 freestyle relay.
On the basketball court, the weather did not impact any District 1 finals, which were all originally slated for Saturday.
The quadruple header at Temple’s Liacouras Center should go on as scheduled, beginning with the Class 5A girls final at noon between Villa Maria Academy and unbeaten West Chester Henderson.
That will be followed by Bishop Shanahan vs. Penncrest in the Class 5A boys final at 2 p.m. and the Class 6A girls final between Central Bucks South and Souderton at 4 p.m. The finale at 6 p.m. pits the Plymouth Whitemarsh boys against Abington in the Class 6A final.
In boys playback games, timing is all over the map.
In Class 6A, Coatesville will host Pennridge for fifth place at 1 p.m. In Class 5A, Holy Ghost Prep travels to Sun Valley for fifth place at 2:30 p.m., while familiar foes West Chester Rustin and Great Valley battle for the final state berth at 4 p.m. at Great Valley. Chester and Wissahickon play for third place at 3 p.m.
In girls Class 6A, Spring-Ford will host Garnet Valley at 1 p.m. in a battle for third place. Perkiomen Valley will host Upper Dublin at 7 p.m. with ninth place on the line. And Downingtown East will host Central Bucks East at 5 p.m. for 11th place, with only the winner earning a state tourney berth.
Girls Class 5A presents the most jarring changes, although everyone left in that bracket is already assured a state berth. Mount St. Joseph will play at West Chester Rustin Monday night for third and fourth place, while Springfield-Delco will host Upper Merion for fifth and sixth.
