KSAC NORTH GIRLS TITLE TO BE DECIDED BY PLAYOFF GAME FRIDAY AT CLARION HS

CLARION – The KSAC has decided that a KSAC Playoff game will be used to decide the winner of the girls’ KSAC-North title between Cranberry and West Forest, as long Cranberry beats Venango Catholic Thursday to force a tie atop the division.

The game will be held Friday (Feb. 13) at 7 p.m. at Clarion High School with the winner advancing to the KSAC Title game at 3 p.m. Saturday at Clarion High School against Moniteau.

A committee of KSAC administrators decided on the move Wednesday according to Clarion athletic director Larry Wiser. It was determined that the fifth tie-breaking scenario (the first four would leave Cranberry and West Forest still tied) – wins against opponents at or above .500 – was against KSAC teams only not the entire schedule.

“The criteria wasn’t clear on whether it was all games or just KSAC games, so a decision was made after a lot of thought that it was KSAC games only,” Wiser said. “As a coach, I think playing a playoff game is probably the fairest way to decide this.”

Because of the decision to play a play-in game Friday night, the girls’ title game was moved back from 1 p.m. Saturday to 3 p.m., and the boys’ title game between North Clarion and Keystone was moved up to 1 p.m.

Cranberry (18-3 overall, 15-2 KSAC-North) and West Forest (20-2, 16-2) played twice this season with each winning on the other’s home court. West Forest beat Cranberry 47-44 Dec. 20 and Cranberry topped the Lady Indians 48-47 Monday on a Hannah Heeter basket with 19 seconds left.