The Division-III Presidents Athletic Conference has canceled its non-conference football games for the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving league members with a nine-game schedule with hopes to start play Sept. 19.
The PAC members are all in Western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia with Bethany, Carnegie Mellon, Case Western Reserve, Geneva, Grove City, St. Vincent, Thiel, Washington & Jefferson, Waynesburg and Westminster all sponsoring football in the conference.
“The Covid-19 pandemic presents us with many unprecedented challenges as a conference,” PAC commissioner Joe Onderko said in a press release. “There are certainly aspects of this public health challenge that are clearly beyond our control. By focusing on what we can control, we hope to maximize the possibility of holding a legitimate, comprehensive fall sports season while protecting the health of our student-athletes to the best of our ability.”
Each team will lose one game from the typical 10-game Division III schedule. Carnegie Mellon had already had one of its non-conference games canceled when MIT elected not to play its season. Bethany had scheduled Hiram College. Grove City was to play Juniata College. Waynesburg had a home game scheduled against Muskingum College. Geneva was to visit Mt. St. Joseph in Cincinnati. Thiel will lose its rivals game against Allegheny College. St. Vincent had a home game scheduled against Bluffton University. Case Western Reserve was to face University of Rochester.
