WPIAL sets football playoff format, schedules 4 finals at Heinz Field

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, February 19, 2018 | 5:39 PM

Previous Next

Previous Next

The WPIAL created a good-news, bad-news scenario for its Class A football teams.

The good news: The finalists from the smallest classification will play their championship at Heinz Field once again.

The bad news: Only eight teams from Class A will make the playoffs, down from 16.

“It was a consensus opinion of the board that first-round Class A playoff games were not competitive,” said WPIAL executive director Tim O'Malley, noting the average margin of victory was more than 30 points. “For the next two years, we'll put them in there, and then we'll reevaluate.”

The move creates a four-pack of games at Heinz Field, but one that no longer includes Class 5A.

The WPIAL board of directors voted unanimously Monday to approve an updated playoff format that puts the Class 6A, 4A, 3A and A finals at Heinz Field on Nov. 16 or 17.

The Class 5A and 2A champions will be crowned a week later at a still-undecided site.

It's possible the WPIAL will continue to use Robert Morris' Walton Stadium, but there are concerns whether attendance for a Class 5A final could fit there. It seats around 3,000.

Under the postseason format approved for the 2018 and 2019 seasons, Class 6A will have a six-team playoff bracket, and the top two seeds receive first-round byes. The classification has just nine teams total, which caused a dilemma for the WPIAL.

“You couldn't have more than (six),” O'Malley said. “You couldn't take eight and you didn't want to just take four.”

Class 5A and 2A have 16-team brackets.

Class 4A, 3A and A have eight-team brackets.

The WPIAL announced realigned conferences last month but waited to reveal its postseason format until the PIAA released updated state playoff brackets.

The past two seasons, the Class 5A playoffs featured an eight-team WPIAL bracket and a championship at Heinz Field. But under new PIAA enrollment numbers, that classification grew to contain the most WPIAL schools.

As a result, the WPIAL increased the Class 5A playoff bracket to 16 teams for the next two seasons, a move that pushed the championship game a week later on the calendar and away from Heinz Field.

The Class A decision came down to competitiveness. The average first-round score was 43-12 during the past two seasons since football expanded to six classes.

“(The lack of competitiveness) coupled with the criticism that was heaped on us for not letting them play at Heinz, it was a good fit,” O'Malley said. “Now we have four games.”

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.