Will there or won’t there be high school sports this fall?

That’s the question everyone is asking following the recommendation made by Gov. Tom Wolf during a Thursday press conference to not have any interscholastic or recreational sports until January 1, 2021.

“The guidance is that we ought to avoid any congregate settings and that means that anything that brings people together is going to help that virus get us,” Wolf said. “We ought to do everything we can to defeat that virus. Any time we get together, for any reason, that’s a problem, because it makes it easier for that virus to spread. The guidance from us, the recommendation is, we don’t do any sports until January 1 [2021].”

Wolf was asked a question about spectators at PIAA events this fall and astoundingly threw a wrench in everyone’s collective minds with his answer.

Following that statement, Wolf walked offstage and hasn’t clarified his comments since, leaving the PIAA, administrators, athletes and fans in limbo.

The statement was stunning for everyone and also befuddling.

And a lot of people are mad.

How could the state and the PIAA have gotten a few days from the start of official practices [August 10 for football], only to have Wolf issue a recommendation in passing at a press conference? If that question was never asked, would Wolf have come out with a statement on his own pushing back against fall sports?

The PIAA had an emergency meeting on Friday and pushed back the official heat acclimatization date for football across the state to August 24th. Voluntary workouts will continue to be permitted over the next two weeks.

The PIAA will reconvene on Aug. 21, where they will hopefully come to a conclusion on how to proceed with the fall season.

District 11 Chairman and Whitehall athletic director, Bob Hartman, was certainly caught off guard by Wolf’s statement. He understands that the public might view the PIAA’s Aug. 21 date as “kicking the can” down the road, but wants people to realize that such a massive decision needs more than 24 hours of dialogue before a proper resolution comes to fruition.

“We’re trying to give kids the best opportunity to play,” Hartman said. “The reality of the situation is that we have schools that want more information now and some schools that want to push forward with fall sports. This recommendation was spur of the moment and caught everyone off guard. I think it’s fair that we get more time on this.”

With two more weeks to work with the governor’s office, there is hope for fall sports proponents that the PIAA can figure out a way to work through this process.

There is also hope that political pressure in both parties can come into play here, as it’s rumored that this specific issue--PIAA sports in the fall--has been a hot topic in Harrisburg on both sides of the aisle.

Earlier this week the East Penn Conference announced their plans for a modified schedule with contests starting on Sept. 25 for soccer, field hockey and girls volleyball. Football would start on October 2nd.

The Colonial League also voted to push forward with their fall sports this week, but everyone across the state is playing the waiting game now.

If it comes to a final conclusion that the fall season won’t be played under normal circumstances, there already have been discussions on different types of season models starting in January and running past Memorial Day, which would get fall, winter and spring sports completed. That could give fall sports like soccer, football, field hockey and girls volleyball more contests than the current schedules.

Hartman was just curious on why the Governor made January 1 an arbitrary date for a restart.

“What makes that date significant,” he said. “We want to make a data driven decision, so if we can start on December 17 or January 5, for example, then we need to take that into consideration.”

The weight of Wolf’s recommendation might also be too heavy to battle ultimately.

“I don’t see many school districts going out on their own against this recommendation,” said Hartman, when asked if the PIAA or schools would move forward despite Wolf’s statement “We’re hoping that we can use these next two weeks to find a solution, because we ultimately have to make a final decision.”