O’Hara to resume games during strike

Though its teachers are on strike and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia intends to close its schools starting Wednesday, Philadelphia Catholic League athletic programs apparently will continue with their planned schedules.

Though various schools employ faculty members as coaches, the league hopes to keep its students on the field, Cardinal O'Hara athletic director Steve Langley said Tuesday.

O'Hara, which last week was the lone PCL school to cancel games during the union's strike, will resume action Wednesday alongside its league counterparts. Where things get dicey is with coaches. It was uncertain whether striking faculty members would cross the lines to coach.

The league will hold an athletic directors meeting Thursday to discuss current issues. O'Hara is the lone school to have missed any scheduled games. Langley said that each Lions team lost only one league game at most, which he said should be easily rescheduled.

St. Joseph's Prep and La Salle College High School, though members of the PCL, are not members of the archdiocese. They are private institutions whose teachers are not part of the labor negotiations.

Both the Explorers and Hawks programs will not be affected, unless an archdiocesan team would have to cancel a scheduled game because of coaching issues.

Contact Evan Burgos at rallysports@phillynews.com.