City Calls Audible on Day of Games

The more things change, the more they stay the same in the City Section.

Months after the City Football Coaches Assn. fought to get quarterfinal-round football playoff games moved to Friday night--the day after Thanksgiving--the Los Angeles Unified School District office of school operations issued a directive reversing the change and pushing the quarterfinals back to their original day, Wednesday, Nov. 26.

Quarterfinal games have been played on a Wednesday for more than a decade. Coaches wanted the games switched to Friday to give teams more time to prepare.

Southern Section games are played on Friday.

Citing transportation problems during the holiday weekend, the office of school operations on Tuesday issued by fax a directive to all principals at schools involved in the football playoffs, moving the games back to Wednesday.

The City Section athletics office had no say in the matter, said Jeff Halpern, assistant to Commissioner Barbara Fiege.

“We’re just as amazed as anyone else,” Halpern said.

Although Kennedy Coach Bob Francola was one of the coaches who fought to play on Friday, he was neither surprised nor angered by the change this week.

“[Before issuing the fax] they put everybody behind the eight ball,” Francola said.

“They said, ‘Sure, go ahead and play your game on Friday night, but there will be no late buses [on Friday night], no buses to take kids to practice or to give them a ride home.’

“[But] we’ve been doing it so long this way, I don’t know that it matters that much. With the same amount of preparation time, the team that’s supposed to win, should win.”