JOHNSTOWN —
A request made by the Westmont Hilltop School District will result in a pair of football games getting moved up in observance of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, which begins Sept. 17 at sundown.
The observance of the holiday, which traditionally involves a 25-hour period of fasting and prayer, lasts until nightfall on Sept. 18.
The district’s request was made in order to be sensitive to major holidays in order to create as little conflict to students as possible, according to Tom Callihan, the school’s assistant athletic director.
The Hilltoppers’ away date at Greater Johnstown, originally scheduled for Sept. 17, will now be played at 7 p.m. Sept. 16.
Westmont’s home date with Bishop Carroll, originally scheduled for 1 p.m. Sept. 11 at Price Field, will be played a day earlier at 4 p.m. The change of the Bishop Carroll game is to give the Hilltoppers an extra day to heal and rest before facing Johnstown.
“The PIAA mandates that you can only play or practice six out of the seven days of the week,” Westmont football coach Matt Glennon said. “Had we played the Bishop Carroll game on Saturday, we would have had five days of practice that week and a rest on Sunday. Usually you have four days to prepare for the next game. We would have lost at least one day of preparation with the Saturday game.”
Both coaches – Bishop Carroll coach Craig Sponsky and Johnstown coach Tony Penna Jr. – were very cooperative in moving the games.
“They were great,” Glennon said. “I heard Coach Penna was very flexible and understanding with our athletic department. I had talked to Coach Sponsky. He was very open to the change. We really appreciate both schools’ flexibility and understanding with the request.”
The observance and celebration of Rosh Hashanah a week earlier triggered changes that affected junior high and varsity-level contests in football, soccer, volleyball and tennis. Getting those games rescheduled was a painless process, Callihan said.
“The athletic directors in the Laurel Highlands Conference have been very helpful,” he said. “To a school, each one has asked what they can do to help us get everything rescheduled. I believe that’s the strength of the conference, that we’re able to work with each other.”
Callihan noted that the process to switch the football games went just as smoothly.
“Johnstown was nice about switching the game,” he said. “Changing the week beforehand was a necessity to give Coach Glennon’s team time to prepare, and Bishop Carroll was more than helpful in switching their game to Friday afternoon.”
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Westmont shuffles football schedule
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