FROM THE PRESS BOX: COVID FORCES DIFFERENT ROLL-OUT FOR OUR ALL-VALLEY TEAMS (2021-07-24)
To say the 2020-21 high school sports seasons in the Valley were different, would be a vast understatement.
While Section IV canceled all sports until Jan. 4, the PIAA made every effort to play the fall season as scheduled.
There were some bumps in the road, canceled games and a large number of re-scheduled games due to Covid outbreaks, but in the end, PIAA hosted a postseason in every sport. There were fewer teams in the postseason, and fewer individuals as well, but there was a postseason in every sport - fall, winter, and spring seasons.
In New York, not so much. NYSPHSAA canceled the spring sports state championships in mid-November - more than six months in advance. It turned out to be a short-sighted decision, but most of us knew that when it was made.
Once Section IV did start its winter season on Jan. 4, it crammed three seasons into five months - jumping from the winter sports season, directly into the "fall" season in early March, then into the spring season on May 1.
There was plenty of collateral damage created in the Covid Era, the LEAST of which was the fact it complicated the compilation of Valley Sports Report's "All-Valley" teams.
With Sayre and the Athens playing football in the fall, and Waverly and Tioga playing in between the winter and spring seasons in March and April, and it was the same for all N.Y. "fall" sports, and with the rapid transition from winter to fall to spring sports, we had very little choice, but to roll-out the All-Valley teams this way.
Over the next three weeks, we will unveil our 2020-21 "All-Valley teams, beginning with fall sports, and working our way through the spring season, and the "Male and Female Athletes of the Year."
They may be slightly different than in year's past. Teams didn't play close to the same number of games, so it made things a bit more difficult. You may not see the same format in some of the All-Valley teams as we've used in the past, but we will do our best to honor the Valley's best.
We will start with the fall season. The schedule is as follows:
SATURDAYAll-Valley Girls & Boys Cross Country teams.
SUNDAYAll-Valley Volleyball Super 7;
All-Valley Girls soccer team.
MONDAYAll-Valley Boys soccer team;
Crystal Ball look ahead to 2021 soccer seasons;
TUESDAYAll-Valley "Super 7" and All-Valley Football team;
Crystal Ball look ahead to 2021 football season.
WEDNESDAYFemale and Male Newcomers of the Fall;
Coach of the Fall.
THURSDAYSuper 7 Female Athletes of the Fall;
Super 7 Male Athletes of the Fall.
"The Final Word" on Fall 2020-21.
