NYSPHSAA APPROVES ADDITIONAL FOOTBALL GAME (May 30, 2020)

Tioga County Sports Report
TIOGA COUNTY— The New York State Public High School Athletic Association has given the go-ahead for sections to add an additional football game to the 2020 season.

The NYSPHSAA Executive Committee unanimously approved the decision at its quarterly meeting Wednesday, which was held via video teleconference for the first time in the history of the association.

"With section approval, a contestant or team, may participate in no more than 10 interschool football contests, exclusive of sectional championships," Chris Watson, Director of Communications, wrote in a recap of the meeting.

Should this happen, Tioga County fans could see a meeting of two schools who usually get together for a scrimmage prior to the start of the regular season — Owego and Tioga.

"We have not made a decision on that yet," Owego coach Steve Virkler said. "I do think it’s good for NYS football — it’s just tough with the timing of it right now, especially if we can’t get together over the summer and prepare like we normally do.

"Our plan is to go with Tioga — whether it’s a scrimmage or game will be decided later on after we have more definitive answers as to what the fall season will look like."

The current plan at Newark Valley is to stick with a scrimmage.

"At this time, we are planning to have a scrimmage rather than a week zero pre-season game," coach Ted Hardenstine said. "So far, this has been anything but a typical off-season. I'm sure coaches around the country are analyzing their off-season programs, and formulating plans to accommodate the missed time over the spring and summer. As a result, our players and coaches will adapt and make the necessary changes to be successful.

"However, we felt switching to a pre-season game format for week zero was an unnecessary change, particularly for this upcoming season. We hope that having our annual red/white practice the first Saturday of football, followed by our scrimmage the following weekend, will help our players, coaches, and community feel that the start of the season is 'business as usual.'"

"We have not made a decision yet on if we will be adding another game or playing in a scrimmage," SVEC coach Mike Chaffee said. "I’d like to discuss it more with my coaches and the ADs from both S-VE and Candor. I am not convinced this is the best option for us yet because we start out with a tough few games right off the bat.

"With the outlook of us not having summer workouts together we may not be ready to play a game in Week 0 and would need a scrimmage setting to better prepare us for the start of the season. We will continue to discuss this and see what the best option is for the program."

The NYSPHSAA Executive Committee also approved advancing the regional rotations from 2020 to 2021 for the sports of boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, boys lacrosse, and girls lacrosse for the winter 2020-21 and spring 2021 seasons.

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2020 SECTION IV FOOTBALL CONFERENCE TIOGA COUNTY SCHEDULES
(not all schedules are finalized)

Class B - Division II
OWEGO
Sept. 11: at Vestal, 7 p.m.
Sept. 18: Union-Endicott, 7 p.m.
Sept. 25: Binghamton, 7 p.m.
Oct. 2: at Johnson City, 7 p.m.
Oct. 9: at Maine-Endwell, 7 p.m.
Oct. 16: at WG/OM, 7 p.m.
Oct. 23: Waverly, 7 p.m.
Oct. 30: Whitney Point, 7 p.m.

Class C - Division IV
SPENCER-VAN ETTEN/CANDOR
Sept. 11-12: at Norwich
Sept. 18: at Windsor
Sept. 25-26: Chenango Valley
Oct. 2-3: at Oneonta
Oct. 9-10: Whitney Point
Oct. 16-17: Dryden
Oct. 23-24: WG/OM
Oct. 30-31: at Waverly

WAVERLY
Sept. 11-12: Susquehanna Valley
Sept. 18-19: at Chenango Forks
Sept. 25-26: at WG/OM
Oct. 2-3: Windsor
Oct. 9-10: Dryden
Oct. 16-17: at Whitney Point
Oct. 23-24: at Owego
Oct. 30-31: SVEC

Class D - Division VI
NEWARK VALLEY
Sept. 11-12: Walton
Sept. 18-19: at Unatego
Sept. 25-26: Deposit/Hancock
Oct. 2-3: at Harpursville/Afton
Oct. 9-10: at Delhi
Oct. 16-17: Tioga
Oct. 23-24: at Bainbridge-Guilford
Oct. 30-31: Groton

TIOGA
Sept. 11-12: Delhi
Sept. 18-19: at Deposit/Hancock
Sept. 25-26: Sidney
Oct. 2-3: at Groton
Oct. 9-10: Harpursville/Afton
Oct. 16-17: at Newark Valley
Oct. 23-24: at Walton
Oct. 30-31: Bainbridge-Guilford