It's official: Allen and Dieruff going to the MVC in football only

FROM KEITH GROLLER

At a press conference late this afternoon, Allentown School District officials, along with representatives from the Mountain Valley Conference and Lehigh Valley Conference, confirmed that Allen and Dieruff would be playing in the Mountain Valley Conference for a period of up to four years in football.

Allen and Dieruff will remain in the LVC in all other sports.

Officials confirmed that the LVC gave its unanimous support for Allen and Dieruff to leave the league in football by a 12-0 vote back on Nov. 3.

The MVC voted to approve having Allen and Dieruff come aboard on Nov. 11.

Allen and Dieruff will play eight-game MVC schedules, including one game against each other, beginning with the 2012 season. With two open dates likely to be available -- pending what happens with the PIAA's plans of revamping the schedule -- Allen and Dieruff could possibly still play other LVC teams. In fact, Allen will play Central Catholic in its season opener.

"We want to see our young men grow in a way that allows them a chance to compete and we feel the Mountain Valley Conference is the place in which better and more equal competition can occur for our two football teams," said Russell Mayo, acting superintendent for the Allentown School District.

Mayo thanked the superintendents, principals and athletic directors from both the Lehigh Valley Conference and Mountain Valley Conference for supporting this move.

Two members of both teams were there and both expressed support for the change of leagues.

"I think it's a great move," said Allen junior linebacker and receiver Zak Dakes. "It will give us a sense of competition and if we do lose it shouldn't be the blowouts like we've had the last couple of years. It will give us extra confidence on the field. When you lose like we have, it just makes kids want to quit. People have been saying, 'What's the point of playing the next game? We're just going to get killed again.'

"Now there's going to be more anticipation of playing someone you haven't played before and you have a better chance of competing. I already know of a couple of kids who have talked about joining the team who weren't on the team this year. They are saying they're going to give it a chance now. I think pretty much everyone is supportive of this change."

Dieruff's Christian Negron agreed with Dakes.

"I'm pretty excited and our team is as well," Negron said. "The Lehigh Valley Conference is a tough conference. Everyone agreed that this league [the Mountain Valley Conference] will be better for our program over the long haul. We lost a lot of kids who quit during the season. We were down to just 25 to 30 kids by the end of the season. If there's more a chance of being successful, more kids will want to participate. I've already heard that more kids will come out."

Dave Wildonger, the former Allen football coach who serves the district as executive director of secondary education, said that the change to the MVC is not the only thing that needs to be done with the programs.

"It's just one piece," he said. "We have much more to do, but what the kids need more than anything right is the chance to experience some success and while the Mountain Valley Conference has some very good teams and very good players, we feel there's a better chance for success in this league."

In terms of the head coaches for next season, Mayo said that both Dieruff's John McDowell and Allen's James Brown, Jr., who was named interim coach after Cedric Lloyd resigned just two weeks before the start of practice, are being evaluated as coaches are every year and there was nothing definitive at the moment about their status.

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