Did the Juniata Valley girls violate PIAA eligibility rules to reach the state finals?



… I may have to retract the nice things about Alexandria 

Earlier this week, I posted a piece about how great it was that the Lady Green Hornets from tiny Alexandria, Pa. made it to the state championship game.

While they lost on Friday to Lebanon Catholic, it was an incredible performance for a small school coming in second in the state.

Were they legit?

However, yesterday I read a post online in which a person alleged that three of the Lady Hornets' players were not from the JV school district. Instead, they played on an AAU team coached by the Juniata Valley coach, Rachelle Hopsicker.

According to this story, three of the girls on the team live with local families in the JV school district during the week and then go home to their families on the weekends.

Now, I do not believe everything that I read online, and I have not been able to confirm that story, but am working on it.

Violation of PIAA rules?

However, if that is true, it would appear to violate PIAA rules. Unless the athlete is adopted or is living with a guardian, that kind of arrangement is illegal. It is a circumvention of the law. They are essentially what they accuse the private schools of doing: Recruiting.

District 6 on recruiting

District 6 used to be pretty consistent about enforcing those transfer rules, but that was then and this is now. Today, if both principals agree that the transfers were not done with athletic intent, then they are approved.

That is nonsense. The WPIAL is much tougher on these kinds of situations.

Technically, this would not necessarily be a transfer case. But, if they are living with people in a school district for the express reason of playing for that school's team, and their family lives elsewhere, then that is simply wrong.

If anyone knows more about this, please let me know. Send me a DM on Twitter @hughbradyconrad

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