Today is the opening day of the winter season in scholastic sports, and that means it's the first of two major tournament weekends.
Area schools hosting tournaments today and Saturday include Mifflin County, East Juniata, Greenwood and Belleville Mennonite. Most local schools have both boys and girls in action over the weekend, with a couple of regular-season games dotting the schedule as well.
Also slated are wrestling tournaments Saturday that offer local mat programs their first action of the season.
The Mifflin County Tip-Off Challenge is easily the biggest event, with 13 total games over two days at two playing sites. That includes five junior varsity games. The tournament events get under way at 4 p.m. with Juniata and Milton squaring off in a girls game.
Mifflin County faces Southern Huntingdon in the second game at 5:30, also a girls matchup. After a 7 p.m. boys contest between Central Mountain and Friere Charter, the Huskies face Milton in the prime time boys game at 8:30.
At Mifflin County Junior High, the JV action sees Central Mountain plays the Husky boys at 6 p.m., then Mifflin County and Juniata meet in a JV girls game at 7:30.
Saturday's varsity girls games pit Juniata against Southern Huntingdon at 4 p.m. and Mifflin County against Milton at 7. The Milton boys take on Friere Charter at 5:30 and Central Mountain tangles with the Huskies at 8:30.
One girls JV game will be played at the high school - Southern Huntingdon against Milton in a girls game at 2:30. At the junior high, Mifflin County plays the Milton boys at 3:45 and Milton's girls face the Huskies at 5:30.
All others are tournament style, with consolation and championship games Saturday. All starts are 6 p.m. today and for consolations, with second games at 7:30, except where noted:
* East Juniata hosts a boys tip-off event, with Carson Long facing Line Mountain in the opener and the Tigers playing Harrisburg Academy.
*Juniata and Mount Union boys are at Southern Huntingdon, with the Trojans playing Fairfield early and Juniata taking on the host after that.
*Greenwood is hosting the Perry County girls tournament, with Newport and Susquenita meeting early and the Wildcats taking on West Perry in the late game. The Greenwood boys are in the Paul Corby Tip-Off at Boiling Springs, playing today at 6 p.m. against Northern. Susquehannock is the fourth team in the field. Night games there start at 7:45.
* Belleville Mennonite's tip-off event brings both boys and girls teams to the school, with games today at 4, 5:30, 7 and 8:30 p.m. The first two games match Great Commission and Columbia County Christian, girls then boys. The Trojan girls play Johnstown Christian at 7 and the boys play Northumberland Christian in the nightcap. Consolation games Saturday are at 11 a.m. (girls) and 12:30 p.m., with the finals at 2 p.m. (girls) and 3:30.
Regular-season games today will be played at Mount Union (girls, against McConnellsburg) and Midd-West (boys, against Montgomery).
On the mats, Mifflin County travels to the Ephrata Duals; Juniata is headed to the Wyalusing Valley tournament, Midd-West heads to the Newport Duals and Mount Union competes in the Conemaugh Township tournament. All of those are Saturday events.
