West Catholic-Springfield Montco playoff not at neutral site

BY TED SILARY, silaryt@phillynews.com
Posted: November 16, 2011

ASIDE FROM drawing X's and O's this week, Brian Fluck is scratching his head.

Though he's hardly incensed, West Catholic's football coach does wonder why his team will play a championship game on its opponent's home field.

Curious decisions are not limited to the Public League, it turns out.

Because neither has an outrageous amount of teams at the AA level, Districts 12 and 1 combine for what's called a subregional. The semifinal survivors are West, the defending state champion, and Springfield Montco, and they'll meet Friday night on the latter's grass-and-dirt field.

"Springfield's seeded higher than us, so I have no problem with the game being in District 1," Fluck said. "But it should be at a neutral site, a place with turf. District 1's AAA and AAAA finals are at neutral sites. [Almost] always on turf. Why not this one?"

The response from Rod Stone, the D-1 chairman: "We don't really see this as a 'title' game. No trophies or medals are awarded. It's just a mechanism for one of those teams to advance to the next round."

Stone said he and Robert Coleman, the D-12 chairman, agreed that higher-seeded teams would host games in the subregional even before the identities of the four teams were established.

Monday, Coleman said he would inquire again about the site with the hope of maybe getting it changed. When asked later about the outcome via text, he merely responded, "Springfield, Friday at 7 o'clock."

"I'm just getting my kids ready," Fluck said. "With the game on a nonturf field, you always think about bad weather. You just hope it doesn't have an effect on the game."

Online high school coverage at philly.com/rally.

 

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