Avella Forfeits Friday’s Game With Our Lady Of The Sacred Heart

According to a report in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Avella has forfeited its football game Friday against Our Lady of the Sacred Heart because injuries have taken the team down to 12 players. Avella is the smallest school in WPIAL football and started the season with only 20 players on its roster. Avella coach Ryan Cecchini said he and school administrators decided to forfeit because of safety reasons for the players. “We beat Carlynton two weeks ago and took some lumps, but we really got beat up pretty good last week against Fort Cherry,” Cecchini said. “It became apparent Monday that we might not be able to suit up for this game. We decided to wait until Wednesday, and it got worse by then. At that point, it became a safety issue. OLSH has been great about this situation, but you can’t really play a game with 12 or 13 players. The 12 or 13 we have aren’t fully healthy, either. And a lot of the problem is that we have only three seniors and two juniors on the rosters. We would have to play a lot of young kids who haven’t been through the grind of games.”