When the PIAA Board of Directors voted last week to carry on with the 2020 fall sports season, the board allowed each individual school district and its administration to make the ultimate call and determine whether to play.

It essentially puts the decision in the hands of local school boards and the district superintendent. Both Hanover Area and Valley West have elected to suspend the start of fall sports practices until each respective school board can meet and make a formal vote.

That likely means each school’s fall sports student-athletes will not be able to begin practice until getting official word from their school boards. Hanover Area and Valley West’s school boards are both expected to have formal meetings later this week, where an official vote will be taken.

The Valley West school board is reportedly going to meet in executive session today, and the topic of fall sports will be discussed.

The rest of the fall sports athletes around the Wyoming Valley Conference took to the fields on Monday, the first official day of practice. The start had been pushed back two weeks by the PIAA, which wanted clarification on Gov. Tom Wolf’s recommendation that youth sports not take place until Jan. 1.

At its most recent meeting, the Wyoming Valley Conference athletic directors voted, 13-1, to approve an eight-game football schedule with the first game to be played on Sept. 11.

“The Wyoming Valley West school board wants to make an educated decision as to what they believe is best for our student-athletes and coaches for the fall sports,” said Valley West head football coach Jack Baranski. “As the football coach, I really want to play. I think we can do it safely. We have been following all the guidelines, protocols and safety plans put in place from the time we began voluntary workouts.”

Teams were able to begin voluntary workouts over the summer once their school boards met to develop safe return to play guidelines. Once those guidelines were adopted, the plan had to be posted on the school district’s website.

Once those steps were complete, student-athletes were able to begin voluntary workouts. Monday’s date signified the first day fall sports coaches could make practice mandatory. Monday also was the first official day of heat acclimatization for football players.