Yale's Zane Dudek, other WPIAL grads react to Ivy League canceling fall sports

Zane Dudek has spent the past several months preparing for his final football season at Yale, ready to challenge for a third Ivy League title alongside his teammates.

The former Armstrong running back who set a then-WPIAL single-season record with 2,955 yards in 2016 won’t get that chance this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Conference officials decided Wednesday to cancel the 2020 fall sports season.

“I was bummed out, but I wasn’t surprised,” said Dudek, who was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2017. “Our coach had given us a heads up that it was going to come out, so I was bummed out then. But I would say like a month ago, I really started to become more realistic and realize that it probably wasn’t going to happen.”

Along with football, the decision affects soccer, field hockey, volleyball and cross country. It will also affect the first semester portion of winter sports such as basketball, swimming and wrestling. The conference has not determined if fall sports could be moved to the spring.

“We simply do not believe we can create and maintain an environment for intercollegiate athletic competition that meets our requirements for safety and acceptable levels of risk,” the Ivy League Council of Presidents said in a statement.

“We are entrusted to create and maintain an educational environment that is guided by health and safety considerations. There can be no greater responsibility — and that is the basis for this difficult decision.”

Like Dudek, Cornell linebacker Jake Stebbins, a Seneca Valley grad, was bummed when he heard the news about the conference canceling fall sports.

“Not going to lie, I was a little upset, but I understand what they are doing,” Stebbins said. “Safety comes first and I get that, but personally, I just wanted to play football.”

Although the news was disappointing, Stebbins was still trying to look on the bright side. During last season, he suffered a hit to the back of the elbow that loosened up some cartilage. He had surgery just under two months ago and is now going to take his time rehabbing.

“I’m still recovering from that, so if nothing else, it’s just going to give me more time to get back from the surgery,” Stebbins said.

The Ivy League’s decision to cancel sports this fall affects several other former WPIAL athletes.

Thomas Jefferson’s Mac Duda (Princeton), Peters Township’s Josh Casilli (Penn), Butler’s Nate Cornibe (Cornell), Central Catholic’s Thomas Hartnett (Dartmouth), Penn Hills’ Derrell Porter (Dartmouth), North Allegheny’s Jake Lugg (Harvard) and Shady Side Academy’s Mason Tomlin (Columbia) are football players who were entering their first year at Ivy League schools.

Casilli, who caught 20 passes for 345 yards and six touchdowns as a senior, was looking forward to his first year in college.

After finishing high school with 1,552 receiving yards and 20 touchdown catches, the 6-foot wide receiver said he has been working as hard as ever throughout the offseason to perfect his mechanics and prepare for college football. He will have even more time to perfect his craft now, and he feels like that the extra time will help him.

“I haven’t had a season since off I was like 6 years old, so it’s going to be interesting,” Casilli said. “But I think it’s going to be good in the long run. As a freshman, getting acclimated and everything.”

Casilli said Penn is going to have a 10-week “spring ball” period in the fall while following social distancing precautions.

“We had a team meeting (Wednesday), and they said we’re having a 10-week period instead of the usual six-week period,” Casilli said. “They just flopped their schedule around, so we’re going to have spring ball in the fall.

“We’re going to do as much as we can with restrictions.”

With the logistics involved with football and the number of players and staff surrounding the team, Dudek said he realized a season probably couldn’t happen. So, he was trying to find the positive side of the news.

“It’s probably the best thing for everyone just because I don’t want the season to start then get canceled three or four weeks into the season, then we lose a year of eligibility,” said Dudek, who ran for 6,971 career yards at Armstrong, fifth in WPIAL history.

Although the fall season was canceled, players still have options when it comes to their athletic careers. Younger athletes will still have eligibility left regardless. But for seniors like Dudek, there is a decision to make.

The Ivy League could move fall sports to the spring and, if that does happen, Dudek said he would play. If not, he said he would take a semester off in order to have eligibility for 2021. He could also transfer to a FBS school, which he said he would entertain.

But unless it’s a perfect situation, the former River Hawk wants to finish what he started at Yale.

“I just have to keep working out every single day and still taking everything day by day and still acting like our season is coming up,” Dudek said. “I can’t slack on any workout. I still have to be 100% every single day that we have workouts. I still have to stay in good shape and be ready to go whenever.”