The Burlington County League seems to be shrinking by the day.
Yesterday, Pemberton became the third school in less than a week to apply for football membership in the Olympic Conference, and Holy Cross could follow suit by the end of this week. Fellow Burlco Liberty Division members Willingboro and Rancocas Valley already have applied.
The Olympic's athletic directors will vote on prospective new members on Nov. 18. Any team wishing to leave the BCL would have to be released by the league.
``I just got hit this morning with the Willingboro-Pemberton situation,'' Holy Cross athletic director Mike Fynan said. ``It would seem that if those two pull out, it doesn't leave us much choice, unless we wanted to cross the bridge and join the Philadelphia Catholic League, and I don't think that's an option.''
Adding the four schools would make the Olympic a two-division, 21-team football conference next year, making nonconference scheduling unnecessary to fill a nine-game schedule.
Similar to Rancocas Valley and Willingboro, Pemberton is looking to leave because the smaller schools in the Burlco would not schedule games against the Hornets.
``I don't want to go to East Podunk to play football,'' Pemberton athletic director Richard Stahl said. ``Who wants to look for five or six football games each year? No one.''
Last year, Stahl said, Pemberton had to make a 2 1/2-hour trip to Phillipsburg for a game on a day that fellow Burlco member Delran had an open date.
When Shawnee, Lenape and Cherokee joined the Olympic last year and the Burlington County League stayed with a three-division format instead of going with two divisions, it might have been the beginning of the end for the larger Burlington County schools in the league.
``If [Rancocas Valley and Willingboro] had stayed, we probably would have stayed in the BCL hoping we could get a two-division setup,'' Stahl said. ``The three-division setup is the Group 2 schools' favorite alignment. Who would really be in favor of a four-team league?''
