WHITEHALL - Navigating the uncertainties of last season’s scholastic sports schedule in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic also meant considerable changes to the traditional playoff format for several sports.

District 11 Chairman Bob Hartman announced during Tuesday’s annual press conference at St. Luke’s Sports Rink that the postseason structure for many fall, winter and spring sports will move back to their typical format.

“Subregions went by the wayside last year,” said Hartman, who is also the Whitehall Athletic Director. “We are going back to our previous format of subregional tournaments where they apply.

“The goal of the PIAA is to have our playoffs as normal as possible, so moving forward, unless anything drastically changes, the brackets that are online, the subregional formats that we used, the district playoffs that we have, will remain intact as they had pre-COVID.”

FALL SPORTS

• The football subregional includes District 1 (one team) in Class 3A and District 2 (two teams) in Class 5A.

The district bracket in football is a minimum of four teams from Classes 1A-5A, and eight teams in Class 6A.

For team golf, Class 2A boys and girls are both in a subregional with Districts 1 and 12. Only one team in each classification, 2A and 3A, advances to states.

• The number of golfers advancing to regionals varies by classification. There will be three in both 2A girls and 3A girls, while four will move on in 2A boys and six will qualify in 3A boys.

The district qualifying round is this Monday, Oct. 4, at Olde Homestead Golf Club. The District 11 championships will be Oct. 12 at the Steel Club in Hellertown. The team championships will also be held Oct. 12.

• In boys soccer, Class 2A is in a subregional with three District 1 teams, bringing the total to 17 with 14 District 11 schools.

New for 2021 is the second entry into the state tournament for the Class 4A boys. All other classes will only have one team qualify for states.

• Girls soccer follows a similar qualification format, with two teams from Class 4A moving on to states, and just one advancing from 1A-3A.

In cross country, which returns to DeSales University this year, there will be two teams and the next 10 individuals qualifying for states this year in all six classes.

• Field hockey will see two teams in Class 1A and 3A qualify for states, while only one in 2A will advance.

• There will be one state qualifier in both team and individual girls tennis in Class 2A and 3A.

A change that was made last year will continue this season with a 16-person draw for singles and doubles. Prior to last year, it was 32.

The tournament will be returning to Lehigh University for first round and quarterfinal rounds in both singles and doubles. Singles begins Oct 4, with semifinals and finals Oct. 6 at Parkland.

For the district team tournament, there will be eight teams in 2A and 3A.

• In volleyball, one team in each of the four classes will qualify for states.

WINTER SPORTS

• Basketball will be moving back to a Tuesday-Friday, Wednesday-Saturday format for games this year for districts. If needed, games and dates can be moved depending on facilities.

The state tournament will begin March 8 and 9, leaving more room to work in any rescheduled games and make sure everyone is potentially available.

• The district diving championships will be Saturday, Feb. 26 at Emmaus, while swimming will be Friday and Saturday, March 4-5, at Parkland, for boys and girls in Class 2A and 3A. The top 16 times qualify in each event for 2A and 3A for the district meet.

There is no confirmation yet on if states will be held at Bucknell.

• The wrestling postseason appears headed back to Freedom and Liberty for team and individual districts. The pre-COVID format will also return, moving away from the four-week postseason and back to a three-week structure.

SPRING SPORTS

• Baseball will use neutral sites for semifinals and continue working with DeSales, as well as Easton, Northampton, Parkland, Pottsville, Pine Grove, among others, as venues. There was uncertainty about the usage of Coca-Cola Park due to availability, though that is still in play.

• With proms and graduations occurring later or earlier, it made it difficult to reschedule games when needed during softball’s postseason. For championship week, the district is looking to avoid Thursdays. If games were rained out and there was prom or graduation on Friday or Saturday, championship games would be Saturday evening and teams had to come back and play first round state game Monday, something they are trying to avoid. Semis and finals will be on neutral sites.

• The District 11 Track and Field Championships will be held at Whitehall, and return to its traditional two-day format with standard qualifications.

MOVING FORWARD

While challenges lie ahead for each season, Hartman acknowledged those difficulties are more prevalent in some sports than others.

“We’re still dealing with COVID situations and shutdowns and all of those types of things. But the emphasis is on schools doing their best to provide contests for their athletes by fulfilling contracts that they have set,” he said. “Whether they’re league games, or non-league games, teams should do their best to try to provide alternative dates when they can’t play on the scheduled date. This most specifically hinders us in the sport of football, which is traditionally a one-game-a-week format for the health and safety of our athletes.”

Despite any cancellations or postponements that have or may occur, Hartman urged schools to play contests when and if possible.

“The goal is to avoid teams not playing for reasons other than COVID shutdowns. Programs obviously need to shutdown occasionally still, that is going on,” said Hartman. “The goal is to play games. We do hope that teams do their best to find alternative solutions when COVID unfortunately does continue to strike.”

THIS AND THAT

Moving forward, all ticketed District 11 playoff contests will now use online ticketing with no sales at the gate and no cash sales. The pricing structure has also changed with one ticket price ($7) for all playoff contests. Any individual aged 65 or older will be admitted free of charge. That is a change from the previous policy that had an adult rate, and a different rate for students and seniors.

The District 11 Hall of Fame ceremony, which was postponed again this year, will now be held in April of 2022.

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LUCKY 7 … On Wednesday, Brianna Moore provided a lot of fuel for the Palmerton girls soccer team with a seven-goal performance. Moore scored five of those goals in the first half alone as the Bombers rolled to a 10-1 Colonial League win over Catasauqua.

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PITCHERS’ DUELS … If they were playing baseball instead of field hockey, Lehighton’s wins this past week would have been termed “pitchers’ duels.” The Indians opened the week with a 1-0 win over Saucon Valley, and then closed out the week with another 1-0 win over Pleasant Valley. In both contests, it was Maddie Brown stepping up and drilling home the game winner.

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OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION … On Monday, Northern Lehigh rolled to a 12-1 girls soccer victory over Wilson. Katelyn Barthold led the Bulldogs’ offensive explosion with a four-goal performance.

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BIG ASSISTS … Andi Hoherchak had a big week for the Jim Thorpe volleyball team, piling up huge assists numbers in all three of her team’s matches. In a 25-9, 25-18, 17-25, 15-11 win over rival Lehighton, the Olympians’ setter posted 31 assists. On Tuesday, she followed with 27 assists in a 25-6, 25-16, 25-12 victory over Schuylkill Haven. She capped the week on Thursday with 24 more assists in a 25-22, 25-17, 25-27, 25-15 win over North Schuylkill.

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HAT-TRICKS R US … There were a total of six different hat tricks posted this past week. Tamaqua’s Jacob Schlier opened the week with three goals in a 6-2 boys soccer win over Palmerton. On Friday, Alex Weaver of Pleasant Valley, and Danielle Gordon of Weatherly, accomplished the feat in girls soccer games. Weaver’s accomplishment came in a 7-1 win over Pocono Mountain West, while Gordon’s occurred in a 8-0 shutout win over Lincoln Leadership Academy. Brinley Rex of Northwestern posted the lone field hockey hat trick in a 5-2 win over Bangor on Saturday. The Jim Thorpe girls soccer duo of Mackenzie Yuhas and Olivia Rosenberger capped the week with a double hat trick as both players scored times in a 11-0 rout of North Schuylkill on Saturday afternoon.

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STICKING TOGETHER … In the sport of cross country, sticking together can be a very good thing. That was the case in a pair of cross country meets on Tuesday. The Northwestern boys’ swept a five-team Colonial League meet thanks in large part to Samuel Bower, Matthew Santana and Cole Chukoskie, who finished second, third and fourth, respectively. The Weatherly boys swept a four-team Schuylkill League meet thanks to a 1-2-3 finish from Jacob Parker, Ricky Ray and Frankie Willis.