PAC outlines plans for sports moved to spring

The Presidents’ Athletic Conference is moving forward with plans to play football, soccer and women’s volleyball in the spring.

The NCAA Division III conference outlined plans for a regular season and postseason for the sports, which were postponed for the fall due to the covid-19 pandemic.

The spring schedules will include conference matchups only.

Student-athletes can choose to participate in 50% or less of the maximum contests in order to save four years of eligibility.

The NCAA previously announced a waiver for sports that cannot complete half of their season.

In other words, if teams play five games of a 10-game schedule, and covid-19 forces the cancellation of the remainder of the schedule, athletes will not be charged with a year of eligibility.

Football, soccer and women’s volleyball are considered “high contact” sports. “Medium contact” sports, including cross country, golf and women’s tennis, are still having their spring competition evaluated.

Those sports normally have fall championships.

Winter sports won’t start until after Jan. 1, 2021. The NCAA has not released additional information on basketball, wrestling, swimming and indoor track and field.

Current spring sports — baseball, softball, men’s lacrosse, women’s lacrosse, and outdoor track and field — also are under review as far as scheduling and key dates.

Football is aiming for a March 12 start date with a four-game schedule — plus one postseason game. Ten teams will be split into north and south divisions. The regular season will be played over seven weeks with each team getting two open dates.

The PAC’s proposed spring alignment for football looks like this:

• North Division: Case Western Reserve, Geneva, Grove City, Thiel, Westminster.

• South Division: Bethany, Carnegie Mellon, Saint Vincent, Washington & Jefferson, Waynesburg.

Men’s and women’s soccer teams — 10 each — will begin play March 11-14 and play nine-game schedules and one postseason game across eight weeks. Teams will be able to schedule games within a four-day window each week.

For volleyball, 10 teams will start competition Feb. 25-27 and play nine-match schedules, flexible in a four-day span each week like soccer, and a championship tournament will follow the regular season.

That season is scheduled for eight weeks.