PIAA rule keeps OLSH football team idle Friday night after Avella forfeits

By: Chris Harlan
Thursday, October 13, 2022 | 4:13 PM

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Avella doesn’t have enough healthy players available for this week’s football game against Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, so the Eagles will forfeit the Class A Black Hills Conference contest scheduled for Friday night.

OLSH tried to make the best of a bad situation and found an alternate opponent willing to play, but PIAA rules regarding forfeits will ultimately keep the Chargers idle.

Athletic director Michael McDonald said OLSH had scheduled a replacement game against City League opponent Perry but had to cancel that contest after learning from the WPIAL office that PIAA guidelines prohibit teams from accepting a forfeit and playing a game in the same week. Teams are limited to 10 regular-season contests and forfeits are counted as contests, WPIAL administrator Vince Sortino said.

If OLSH had played Perry, the Chargers were told they couldn’t count the Avella forfeit as a conference win and also wouldn’t receive the WPIAL tiebreaker points that go along with it.

“I understand the rule. I understand why it’s there,” McDonald said. “I understand there are people who might arbitrarily say, ‘We’re not going to play these guys and we’ll schedule someone else.’ But in this case specifically, Avella didn’t have any kids to play. They’re not trying to not play us. If he would have had 13 kids, I think he would have shown up.”

Avella is 1-3 in the Class A conference.

OLSH is 3-1 and tied with Burgettstown for second place behind Bishop Canevin (4-0) and ahead of Fort Cherry (2-2) and Cornell (2-2). A missed conference game could impact OLSH’s playoff position.

McDonald said there were no hard feelings toward Avella for canceling.

“They are doing what they need to be doing for the students in their school,” McDonald said. “They’re protecting their students, and that absolutely is what they should be doing. I support that, even if the result is we don’t get to play.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Avella, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart