SHARON -- The long fight over where McDowell's football team belongs might be over.
The District 10 Committee set aside its recently enacted playoff policy and granted McDowell its release in football during a special committee meeting Wednesday at the Avalon Golf and Country Club.
McDowell will remain a member of District 10 for the remainder of the PIAA two-year cycle that started this season but will depart in 2014. The Trojans will likely apply to rejoin District 7 after spending the 2010 and 2011 seasons as a football-only member.
The McDowell football program has long sought its freedom from District 10 and has made clear it would rather play in District 7, where there are Class AAAA programs.
If McDowell's application were to be denied by the WPIAL, the Trojans would have to either compete as an independent or reapply for membership into District 10. Competing as an independent could prevent McDowell from qualifying for the PIAA playoffs.
D-10's vote Wednesday was unanimous.
McDowell athletic director Brian Fuller said the school would have no comment until an official letter is received from District 10.
The move likely ends McDowell's appeal of the playoff policy on the PIAA level. A complaint McDowell lodged regarding the way officers are elected to the District 10 Committee is still active.
McDowell had a schedule featuring WPIAL teams starting in 2006, and received the go-ahead to join District 7 as a full-fledged football member on Dec. 2, 2009. The approval given by the District 10 Committee was for a two-year cycle.
The Trojans competed in the WPIAL for two seasons before learning of a new District 10 policy on Dec. 7, 2011. The D-10 Committee put in place a policy that stated teams that leave D-10 for the regular season must come back to D-10 for the playoffs.
One of the stipulations District 7 created on accepting McDowell as a football-only member was that the Trojans had to compete in the D-7 playoffs if they qualified. Once the new D-10 policy was put in place and enforced, District 7 did not invite McDowell back as a member for the two-year cycle that started in August.
McDowell is now in Region 6 in District 10 and has a full slate of non-region games.
A move to the WPIAL could endanger the annual showdown between rivals Cathedral Prep and McDowell.
District 7 now has 26 Class AAAA teams in three sections. If the numbers stay the same in the next two-year classification cycle, the addition of McDowell would give the WPIAL three sections of nine teams. It could get even more complicated if the Pittsburgh City League teams end up joining District 7.
The WPIAL starts its playoffs in Week 10, giving teams only a nine-week regular season. A nine-team section means eight league games for each team, plus a WPIAL-mandated crossover game. That would not leave an open date for McDowell to play Cathedral Prep.
TOM REISENWEBER can be reached at 870-1707 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNreisenweber. Read the Varsity blog at GoErie.com/blogs/Varsity and post comments.
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