Regional football schedule reshuffle puts Punxsutawney on tough slate; board seeks alternatives

The school’s athletic staff updated the board on a new District 9 football schedule for the upcoming season that places Punxsutawney in a one-year arrangement where the team would play DuBois and Karns City twice and would not face Brookville; athletic staff said the schedule was drafted by a committee of area athletic directors to protect the smallest programs in region 4.

The athletic director (who distributed the draft schedule) explained the regional committee created a one-year schedule to help smaller schools retain programs after several schools experienced low participation; Elk County had lost its football program last year, he said. Committee members rebalanced regions so the smallest programs have a better chance to keep playing, and the result left Punxsutawney to play DuBois and Karns City twice in the coming cycle. The athletic director said the district was not represented on the scheduling committee last cycle but now has representation and will pursue potential changes; he described efforts to find replacement opponents or to swap games but said scheduling constraints (two-year cycles and regional alignment) make changes difficult.

Board members acknowledged the likely negative reaction from fans to playing the same opponents twice, especially in rivalry games, and raised the possibility of direct outreach to Brookville and other schools or to school board counterparts to explore scheduling swaps. The athletic director said he will continue to search for alternate opponents to reduce repeat matchups and will report back to the board; no vote or formal board action occurred.