Sabbath Keeps Jewish Team Out of TAPPS Semis
The Covenant School will play in the semifinals of the TAPPS Class 2A basketball tournament this weekend. The Knights’ opponent should have been Houston’s Beren Academy. But, as Corbett Smith reports in today’s Dallas Morning News, the tipoff time of 9 p.m. Friday was not workable for Beren, an Orthodox Jewish school that does not play between sunset Friday and sunset Saturday.
Beren appealed to TAPPS to move the game up to 3:30 Friday afternoon, but the request was denied. Even if that accomodation had been made, however, Sabbath rules would have prevented Beren from playing in the championship game, which is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday. Beren’s berth in the semifinals goes to Kerrville Our Lady of the Hills, which lost to Beren in the regional final.
Meanwhile, in the Class 5A girls tournament, the Ursuline Bears have a semifinal matchup with Plano John Paul II at 6 p.m. Friday.
