There were two major developments in the ever-changing landscape of high school sports amid the coronavirus pandemic Wednesday.

The PIAA unveiled state playoff brackets for all fall sports at its board meeting, signaling its intention to hold statewide postseasons and declaring state champions, something that has been in doubt since the fall season began.

Whether or not anyone will be in the stands for those games, however, remains in question.

House Bill 2787, which was designed to allow school districts to decide their own spectator policies and was vetoed by Gov. Tom Wolf earlier this week, failed to pass the 67 percent threshold to override a veto in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

“I am deeply disappointed that today’s effort to put parents back in the stands at high school sports failed to gain enough votes to override the governor’s veto of this bill,” said state Rep. Frank Burns, D-Johnstown. “I’ve consistently voted to reopen Pennsylvania in a safe manner, to put people back to work, and now, for parents to watch their kids play. I’ll never stop fighting for the freedoms of the people I represent.”

The vote was 130-71, meaning 25 representatives flipped their vote from the first time the bill was presented.

“I was surprised after seeing the first vote,” PIAA Executive Director Dr. Robert Lombardi said. “But we’re optimistic that we can work with the General Assembly, and they can work with the governor’s office, and we can get a good solid solution to assist parents in seeing games.”

For now, the decision on how many spectators to allow into games is still in the hands of school districts, despite House Bill 2787 being struck down, thanks to a federal judge’s ruling that Wolf’s mandates to limit gathering of people to 250 people outdoors and 25 people indoors was unconstitutional.

“The judge ruled that 25 and 250 were unconstitutional and overbroad,” Lombardi said. “The board recommends to local schools to engage their local school solicitor and their board to come up with a decision on how they are going to handle spectators.”

However, the decision may not stay in the school districts’ hands for long.

“At this point, there is no limitation on spectators,” PIAA general counsel Alan Boynton said. “The governor can now go to the third circuit and request the third circuit stay the order. If the third circuit grants the stay, schools would be back to where the governor had them before (at 25 indoor and 250 outdoor maximums).”

As for finishing the season and staging playoffs, Lombardi is optimistic.

“We’re cautiously optimistic that we’re going to be able to get a regular season, a shortened district playoff and a state playoff in,” he said. “We’re following the guidance of our Sports Medicine Advisory Committee and trying to mitigate this and get it done early by Thanksgiving weekend. We feel we have made some prudent strides to give kids the opportunity to compete and be safe.”

The championship dates and sites remained the same except for high school football, which was moved up one week to Nov. 27-28. The PIAA will hold three games each day at 11 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. at HersheyPark Stadium.

In other news

* There will be no PIAA golf regional competition at Tom’s Run this year. Individuals who advance out of districts will advance straight to the PIAA championships, which will be one 18-hole round rather than 36 holes.

* The PIAA cross country championships will now be held over two days. The Class 1A boys and girls will compete at the Parkview course in Hershey on Nov. 6, and the rest of the races will take place the next day.

* The tennis championships will be held at district sites until the semifinals, which will both be held the same day.

* Lombardi said it is possible that if a football team wins a district championship and cannot compete in the state playoffs due to a COVID-19 positive test, the district may be able to select a replacement team to enter the state playoffs instead. At this time, this is just a possibility.

* The next PIAA meeting is Oct. 7.