Feb 15, 2016 4 min read

During the medal ceremonies after the final dual meet in the PIAA Class AAA Wrestling Team Tournament in Hershey, the losing team, Boyertown, broke into a chant of “homegrown.”

The chant found willing supporters from Belle Vernon wrestlers, who had just received their medals after defeating Nazareth to finish third in Triple-A.

The chant was directed at the team that won the Class AAA team title, Bethlehem Catholic, which has a dominating program that includes wrestlers who transfer into the private institution who might not live in the area surrounding the school.

Some might say they are recruited.

When Bethlehem Catholic defeated Belle Vernon in the semifinals, there were exchanges during the handshake portion of the event. They were not nasty, meant more as a dig than anything else.

But here’s the point.

It’s a classless act.

Not only that, it’s directed at the wrong people.

Look, private schools have an advantage in athletics. A Catholic institution such as Bethlehem Catholic can draw athletes from the parish region regardless of public school boundaries. In some sports, not all, that has led to the ability to build powerful programs.

This is not a new problem.

The private-public debate has been waged for decades in PIAA athletics and the rules are set up by that organization. If you want to show your unhappiness about it, then let the PIAA administrators know. They were present at the medal ceremony.

A silly chant mocking BECA’s “recruiting” practices is simply a childish way to produce some giggles in the stands and try to ease some hurt from the loss.

After the ceremony, BECA head coach Jeff Karam told PennLive.com those incidents don’t bother him and makes a pretty good counterpoint.

“That Boyertown team, probably most of them are really good kids and they have good families. I know they have great coaches. It’s emotional and those things come out,” he said.

“No one likes to lose. Believe me, we’ve lost. I was here last year and I lost (to Franklin Regional in the state semis). I wasn’t shouting over to Franklin Regional, you know, ‘homegrown,’ because they had a couple transfers on their team.”

He was referring to Spencer Lee, who moved into Franklin Regional’s district with his family, and Devin Brown, who followed shortly after. Those two won state titles and were key parts to the Panthers’ team titles. Karam was right. No one was accusing Franklin Regional of having some sort of advantage over other teams then.

The recruiting issue is not only a private school phenomena, but it seems to grab the most attention.

And as Karam noted: “It is what it is. I know what we do in our room, the kids know what we do in our room. We’re tight; we’re family.”

And more respect should have been shown for that.

• The PIAA is expected to expand the team tournament for both classifications next season, but that doesn’t mean there will be more teams heading to Hershey.

The organization is discussing ways to include more teams in the Monday preliminary round. Those dual meets – basketball’s equivalent to pigtails – are scheduled across the state and those winners earn a trip to wrestle in Thursday’s first round at the Giant Center.

If the plan is to include more teams – details will come over the summer – then the PIAA should give serious consideration to eliminating awarding a team title trophy at the individual tournament in March.

It’s an insult to the teams who compete in the February team tournament, battle their way through the grueling schedule, then have the possibility of another team winning the team title in the March individual tournament.

That’s an intolerable situation and one the PIAA should immediately change.

Assistant sports editor Joe Tuscano can be reached at jtuscano@observer-reporter.com