HOLLIDAYSBURG — A jury trial scheduled this week in Blair County court for a former Bellwood-Antis School District leader has been canceled due to the unavailability of a commonwealth witness.

President Judge Wade A. Kagarise, at the request of the state Office of Attorney General, approved the continuance request that will lead to rescheduling a jury trial for former district head wrestling coach Timothy D. Andrekovich.

Andrekovich, 60, who faces a third-degree felony charge of endangering the welfare of children, is accused of failing to carry out a safety plan aimed at preventing former wrestling coach Ryan Blazier from having unsupervised contact with children.

Blazier, after being convicted of seven charges in connection with sexually assaulting two middle school student wrestlers on school grounds in 2019 and 2020, was sentenced to 21- to 42-years’ incarceration.

Kagarise, who was to preside over Andrekovich’s trial, filed an order Friday granting the commonwealth’s continuance request and acknowledging the defense’s objection, as reported during a telephone status conference.

Deputy Attorney General Julia J. van Leeuwen and Senior Deputy Attorney General Lauren C. Eichelberger, in a petition filed Thursday with the court, said that one of the two former student wrestlers was unavailable to testify at Andrekovich’s trial because of health issues in connection with a recent medication change.

In their petition, the prosecutors reminded Kagarise that their unavailable witness participated in prior proceedings relevant to the case.

They also described the witness’ testimony as important, based on his firsthand knowledge of Blazier taking student wrestlers from the gymnasium into a small room with no window access and without observation of other adults. They also expect that the witness can confirm Blazier’s unsupervised interaction with students, at a time when Andrekovich was expected to enforce a safety plan.

State College attorney Lance Marshall is representing Andrekovich.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.