Princeton looking to join MSAC in 2005...

[Bluefield_Rules 46]

PRINCETON - Princeton Senior High School may join the Mountain State Athletic Conference in 2005.

 

The possible move, the subject of speculation in a published report on Friday, projects that the Tigers may become the 14th member of the conference following the addition to the MSAC earlier this month of Woodrow Wilson.

 

Princeton football coach Ted Spadaro, whose team has encountered a series of scheduling headaches related to the Tigers' gridiron success and the declining number of AAA teams in southern West Virginia in recent years, noted affiliation with the MSAC could provide significant advantages for PSHS.

 

"Spring Valley has dropped us from their schedule for next season and Beckley earlier gave us only a one-year contract," Spa-daro said in a radio interview during the First Community Bank basketball tournament this weekend.

 

A year earlier, University High was among three teams that decided not to schedule the Tigers, who have posted a 30-14 mark during the past four years and have reached the quarterfinals of the AAA football playoffs twice.

 

"Right now, we have seven games scheduled for next year. We have four dates available to schedule three games. We are willing to play any AAA or big AA school we can schedule," he continued.

 

With the addition of Beckley, the MSAC is now a 13-member conference. With the odd number of teams, the conference's East and West Division basketball format is thrown out of balance, with one division having seven teams while the other has six.

 

Before Beckley was added, basketball teams played their divisional rivals twice and opposing rivals once.

 

Princeton, Greenbrier East, and Beckley are the only three AAA schools in West Virginia south of the Kanawha Valley. Thus, affiliation with the MSAC would solve some significant scheduling challenges.

 

The Charleston Daily Mail reported on Friday that MSAC athletic directors are considering the addition of the Tigers or Spartans as the 14th team in the loop, and the paper also reports that Princeton may have the inside track on gaining an invitation to join the conference.

 

If Princeton is added to the conference, its affiliation will begin in 2005, according to Spadaro.

 

Asked whether the move is "a lock," Spadaro said, "I wouldn't say it's certain, but it would solve some scheduling challenges if it happens."

 

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