Bishop Carroll, Heritage Conference reach agreement

By: Paul Schofield
Saturday, November 23, 2019 | 11:33 PM

With Ligonier Valley on the verge of moving to the WPIAL, pending PIAA approval, the Heritage Conference and Bishop Carroll have come to a two-year agreement in football.

The announcement was made in a news release by Bishop Carroll principal Lorie Ratchford and Heritage Conference president Jody Rainey.

The Heritage Conference was formed in 2000 with nine teams from the Appalachian South Conference — Blairsville, Homer-Center, Laurel Valley, Marion Center, Northern Cambria, Penns Manor, Purchase Line, Saltsburg and United — and Ligonier Valley from the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference. Bishop Carroll was not included in the Heritage Conference.

Laurel Valley and Ligonier Valley formed one team in 2009-10, and West Shamokin joined in 2016-17.

Bishop Carroll will play as an independent and replace Ligonier Valley on the schedule. The Huskies finished 3-7 overall and was a Class 2A team. The Heritage Conference will be a nine-team league.

Bishop Carroll is a member of the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference in every sport except football. The Huskies have played teams from the Mountain League the past two seasons.

The agreement provides flexibility to void the partnership after next season through two clauses.

The first clause allows the Heritage Conference to void the agreement if the conference accepts a new full-time member and the new member could begin playing football in 2021.

The second clause permits the conference or Bishop Carroll to void the agreement at the end of the 2020 season if either party forms a partnership or joins another conference to provide for greater football opportunities.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Blairsville, Homer-Center, Ligonier Valley, Marion Center, Penns Manor, Purchase Line, Saltsburg, United, West Shamokin