The new Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference, which Tyrone will join in the 2023-2024 school year, released a detailed plan for the expansion of the league last Friday, and reactions from most Tyrone varsity head coaches were optimistic.

The Eagle Eye reached out to the head coaches of all 18 varsity sports at TAHS and received comments from 15. No coach expressed opposition to the move, and most were enthusiastic.

Tyrone athletic director and head girls basketball coach Luke Rhoades, who was involved in the negotiations to create this new super-conference, is cautiously optimistic that the move will be a positive one for Tyrone athletes and fans.

“The Mountain League schools were looking for more stability with scheduling, and as a league, we decided entering into this expansion would be favorable for all of our member schools,” said Rhoades. “This new league will bring a much higher competition level for all sports. Winning a league title will be quite an accomplishment.”

Football – Four Sections

From a fan perspective, much of the focus has been on the impact that the new league will have on high school football in the region.

The LHAC plan to divide the conference into four sections will bring only minor changes to the Golden Eagle’s football schedule.

Tyrone’s schedule will be mostly familiar to players and fans.

The new alignment will preserve the backyard brawl rivalry game with Bellwood, and bring back the Central rivalry. The only brand new regular-season opponent for the Golden Eagles will be the addition of four-time PIAA 1A state champion Bishop Guilfoyle to the schedule.

The change will be much more significant for some other schools, such as Bellwood, which is moving from the ICC, a conference that the Blue Devils have dominated for years, to the much more competitive LHAC.

Tyrone will be a member of the LHAC “East 1” section, along with Central, Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic, Bellwood-Antis, and Huntingdon.

These five teams will play everyone within their section every football season, as well as three of the five teams from the second part of the region, which is made up mostly of Tyrone’s former Mountain League opponents.

The “East 2” section includes Bald Eagle Area, Philipsburg-Osceola, Bellefonte, Penns Valley, and Clearfield.

Tyrone Head Coach John Franco was very positive about the impact the new conference will have on Tyrone football.

“Having lost several teams [from the Mountain League] over the years, every team was in a position where they had to fill three open dates every year, and it was very difficult to fill those dates,” said Franco. “This pretty much keeps the old Mountain League intact and allows us to fill the schedule with local District 6 teams.”

The new league does eliminate the flexibility of member schools to schedule extra bye week games, as Tyrone did in the Mountain League to preserve the Bellwood rivalry game. However, with Bellwood entering the LHAC, Tyrone will not lose any of its traditional football rivalries as a member of the LHAC.

“The idea behind the merger is to eventually develop a giant conference that is similar to and will rival the WPIAL. I think it is very positive for football and may eventually benefit all the sports,” said Franco. “I think the competition will be a little stronger but also it will prepare us better for the playoffs.”

Two Section Sports

In many other sports, including boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls tennis, baseball, and softball the league will be divided into two regions, the West and East.

In boys and girls basketball and girls volleyball, Tyrone will be in the East Region, which also includes Bellwood, Central, Huntingdon, Bishop Guilfoyle, Bald Eagle, Philipsburg-Osceola, Bellefonte, Penns Valley, Clearfield, and Hollidaysburg.

The West includes Somerset, Westmont Hilltop, Richland, Johnstown, Bishop McCort, Penn Cambria, Bedford, Chestnut Ridge, Central Cambria, Forest Hills, and Bishop Carroll.

In basketball and volleyball each school in the region will play each other once, and four teams twice. Every school will also have four inter-region games, pitting East vs. West teams. Teams will also have four open slots for tournaments or non-league games.

Tyrone boys coach George Gripp thinks the change will be good for his team and better prepare them for the District 6 playoffs.

“My thought has always been, I want to play the best competition,” said Gripp. “Now that we made the move, it’s exciting to make new rivalries and get back to playing Central again. We will not have any easy games.”

Rhoades agrees that the new LHAC will be tough in many sports, including girls basketball.

“It’s going to be exciting for the kids to play playoff-level competition athletics all season and compete in the Laurel Highlands championships. All of that is going to prepare you for the actual District 6 playoffs,” said Rhoades, “I was really excited after our last meeting when I saw the proposals that were put together, and I think all our coaches are going to be excited too.”

The top two basketball and girls volleyball teams in each section will make the semifinals and play for a championship.

Baseball and softball will have the same team divisions as basketball and volleyball, but with no championship games.

Tyrone head varsity girls softball coach Doug Myers thinks the move will be a positive one for the softball team.

“I know the Mountain League is very strong year in and year out, so adding even more strong competition will make softball a very tough sport in our area,” said Myers. “The only negative point about merging into the Laural Highlands is that for some teams, the traveling may be quite a long distance, but other than that it should be a lot of fun.”

In soccer, the West will not include Bishop McCort, which has a co-op with Bishop Carroll, and the East won’t have Bellwood, which co-ops with Tyrone.

The top teams in each section will play in a championship game.

The head coaches of Tyrone’s boys and girls varsity soccer programs were both optimistic about what the move will mean for their programs.

“It’s an exciting development. I’m curious to see how the schedule plays out with so many teams in the conference,” said girls varsity soccer coach Mike Sparacino. “We’ll try to embrace this as an exciting opportunity to prove ourselves as a team.”

Boys soccer head coach Alex Bartlett likes the fact that his team will see new opponents in the future.

“It’s an exciting change for the area of sports,” said Bartlett. “I think seeing different teams we don’t normally see that are the same size as we are is only going to make the competition in central PA better.”

Girls tennis will have seven teams in two sections. Tyrone is in the East with Huntingdon, Bishop Guilfoyle, Clearfield, Hollidaysburg, Central Cambria and Central. The West will have Somerset, Westmont Hilltop, Richland, Bishop McCort, Bedford, Chestnut Ridge, and Forest Hills.

The East and West winners will play for a championship.

Boys tennis will have five teams in each of the two sections. Tyrone is in the East along with Huntingdon, Bishop Guilfoyle, Clearfield, and Hollidaysburg. The West will include Somerset, Westmont Hilltop, Richland, Bishop McCort, and Bedford.

“It will help us get more matches because there are like 14 teams and it will give us a better idea of where we stand heading into districts. In boys’ tennis, there aren’t as many teams but it will still give us an idea of where we stand heading into districts,” said Tyrone boys and girls head coach Randy Irvin.

But the tennis athletes will see a change in how their matches are run, according to Irvin.

“We will be changing formats from our matches in the Mountain League which we played 5 singles and 2 doubles, but in the Laurel Highlands we will play 3 singles and 2 doubles, which will be different for our players but shouldn’t be a huge deal,” said Irvin.

Three Section Sports

Varsity wrestling, cross country, golf, and track and field will be split into three sections.

In wrestling, Tyrone will be a member of Section 2, which will also include Bedford, Chestnut Ridge, Hollidaysburg, Penn Cambria, Central, and Bellwood-Antis.

Section 1 will be Somerset, Westmont Hilltop, Richland, Johnstown, Bishop McCort, Central Cambria, and Forest Hills.

Section 3 will be made up of Clearfield, Bald Eagle Area, Penns Valley, Philipsburg-Osceola, Bellefonte, and Huntingdon.

Each team in each section will wrestle all the other teams in that section and section champions will be crowned. There will be an individual tournament as well, possibly following the Christmas break, to crown champions and an LHAC team champion.

In track and field, Tyrone will be in Section 3 with Bald Eagle Area, Penns Valley, Philipsburg-Osceola, Bellefonte, Huntingdon, Bellwood-Antis, and Clearfield.

Section 1 will consist of Somerset, Westmont Hilltop, Richland, Bishop McCort, Bedford, Chestnut Ridge, and Johnstown in the first.

Section 2 is Central Cambria, Penn Cambria, Central, Bishop Carroll, Forest Hills, Hollidaysburg, and Bishop Guilfoyle.

Cross country sections will be the same without Johnstown, Bishop Guilfoyle, and Huntingdon.

Track and field and cross country championships will hold league championship meets at the end of each season.

Tyrone’s head track coach, Brad Kanuch, competed in Laurel Highlands as a high school athlete himself and is excited about the move.

“I think it is a highly competitive conference, and it will help Tyrone athletics,” said Kanuch. “Each week in the Laurel Highlands you have tri and quad meets. Every meet you will go against top-notch competition that you will face at districts.”

Kanuch is looking forward to being able to have more meets than Tyrone has now, and the idea of an LHAC Championship Meet is something he would like to see.

“From a track perspective, I can’t think of any cons,” said Kanuch.

Varsity Cross Country and Junior High Track Head Coach Tammy Wills is also optimistic about the move, but she also expressed some sadness over the demise of the Mountain League.

“I think that it is sad that the Mountain League, which is one of the oldest conferences in the state will be ending but it will be interesting to see how things will play out when it is all said and done,” said Wills.

“Over the years some of our favorite teams to compete against and favorite courses to run on have been lost because those teams have left the current league and joined the LHAC. This should give us a chance to race those schools like Central and Bishop Guilfoyle once again and I am excited about that,” added Wills.

As for junior high track, Wills thinks the move will be beneficial for Tyrone.

“It could really open things up to a bigger and better schedule and more competition for our athletes. Currently, our [junior high] schedule is on the smaller side with about six meets a season. Part of this is because there are still some local schools that do not have middle school track programs. As we enter a new league with more schools that gives us the opportunity to expand that schedule into other areas.”

Golf will see some big changes as the LHAC will go from nine-hole matches to 18-hole competitions.

Tyrone will be in Section 2 with Central Cambria, Bishop Guilfoyle, Penn Cambria, Central, Bellwood-Antis, and Bishop Carroll.

Section 1 will include Somerset, Westmont Hilltop, Richland, Bishop McCort, Forest Hills, Bedford, and Chestnut Ridge.

The third section will be Clearfield, Bald Eagle Area, Penns Valley, Philipsburg-Osceola, Bellefonte, Huntingdon, and Hollidaysburg.

A tournament will be held at the end of the season to crown an individual and team champion.

Head varsity golf coach Michael Funicelli was very positive about the changes.

“I am excited to be in a conference where we will compete against basically all the teams that we see at districts every year. It will allow us to play new courses instead of the same eight to which we travel yearly,” responded Funicelli. “More matches with fewer teams. Less 18-hole matches to prepare us for the postseason.”

One section sport

Due to the small number of school districts fielding swim teams, the swimming schedule will not change much from what Tyrone’s swimmers have been doing for the past several years.

Swimming will have just one section made up of 10 teams: Tyrone, Bellefonte, Penns Valley, Central Cambria, Somerset, Hollidaysburg, Huntingdon, Clearfield, Westmont Hilltop and Richland.

Each team will swim each other once and the top team will be crowned LHAC champion.

Head boys and girls swim team coach Tom Getz said he is comfortable with the move.

“We have swam in this conference for two years and swam in it some time ago as well. It will give us more opportunities to get good, quality meets. Anytime I can get kids in the water it is another chance for competition and to swim good times. The more meets and opportunities we can get, the better,” said Getz.

The Eagle Eye also reached out to the girl’s volleyball, wrestling, and baseball coaches but did not receive comments.

There is no question that this move is something that will impact Tyrone’s players, coaches, and fans for years to come.

Most see the move as a positive and Tyrone athletics are generally looking forward to taking on the competition in the expanded Laural Highlands Athletic Conference and hopes to win some titles in the coming years.