Send in the arbitrators.
As of Sunday afternoon, Pioneer Athletic Conference rivals Phoenixville and Pottsgrove were at an impasse over when to meet at a neutral site this weekend to decide the PIAA District 1 Class AAA championship.
Because it must play Spring-Ford 7 p.m. on Thanksgiving Eve, Phoenixville would like to play the title game Saturday, preferably at night. Pottsgrove, which no longer has a holiday rival, wants to face the Purple Phantoms Friday night.
With the two schools at loggerheads, District 1 officials - chairman Rod Stone, executive secretary Bob Ruoff, and football chairman Robert Boyer - were expected to meet Monday morning to resolve the issue.
"There's no written rule on it," Ruoff said Sunday, "but when this has come up in the past we've usually moved the game to Saturday. You try to give the team that has to play in the middle of the week an extra day of rest."
Phoenixville does not have the option of dropping its game vs. Spring-Ford. The PAC-10 has a rule that all league games must be "honored."
"We're going to do our best, but we don't want our starters to go 48 minutes with us playing two or three days later," Purple Phantoms coach Bill Furlong said. "We'll probably mix our varsity and JV guys. It won't be a wholesale thing."
Coincidentally, longtime Pottsgrove boss Rick Pennypacker twice has had to deal with a short turnaround between a holiday league contest and a playoff game.
In 2009, for the 43d and final time, the Falcons played St. Pius X - which closed its doors in June 2010 - on Thanksgiving. Two days after a 42-0 shutout of the Winged Lions, they bowed to Interboro, 28-21, in overtime in a Saturday night district final at Coatesville.
In 2007, following a 43-0 romp on Thanksgiving Eve, Pennypacker's squad fell to visiting Garnet Valley, 41-22, in a Friday night District 1-12 subregional final.
"In this area, Thanksgiving games are big," Pennypacker said. "But we gave that up. We gave it up to be a playoff team."
Furlong and Pennypacker spoke Saturday. Congratulations for district semifinal wins were exchanged, but a day to meet in the district final was not agreed on.
"I have a great deal of respect for Rick Pennypacker," Furlong said. "I understand that he just wants the best competitive edge for his team."
As of Sunday, according to both coaches, the schools' athletic directors had not budged on their respective preferences for game day.
