After 6 years, 6-classification format still has pros, cons for WPIAL football teams

By: Chris Harlan
Thursday, August 25, 2022 | 12:01 AM

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Six for six.

The PIAA six years ago divided high school football into six classifications, up from four, a hotly debated decision that changed the Friday night landscape across the state. In Western Pennsylvania, where teams kick off their seasons tonight, the question remains: Is this six-class format good for WPIAL football?

That depends on whom you ask.

“They accomplished what we wanted, and that was (to provide help) for the smaller classifications,” said Central Valley coach Mark Lyons, a former president of the state football coaches association. “But they did that at the expense of hurting the bigger programs.”

Closing the gap

The idea behind the change was simple.

With teams divided into four classifications, the enrollment discrepancy between the biggest school and smallest school in each class was considered too great. Especially in the small-school classifications, WPIAL teams saw the mismatch as a disadvantage and maybe a danger.

Now, the enrollment gap between the biggest and smallest school in WPIAL Class 2A is only 44 boys. In Class 3A, the gap is 66 boys. On the down side, six classes sometimes means longer travel, broken rivalries and alternate championship venues, problems the WPIAL has tried to address with creative solutions in recent years.

It also left Class 6A with only five teams.

“It’s provided more opportunities for certain schools to probably advance further in the playoffs and things of that nature,” said WPIAL Executive Director Scott Seltzer, who was a PIAA board member when expansion was approved in 2015. “When you have six classifications, it does spread things out a little bit. In this part of the state, there aren’t as many big schools as in other parts of the state, so there’s that discrepancy there.

“But it’s one of those things I don’t give a lot of thought to because I can’t control it. I try to focus on what I can control, not what I can’t. That’s probably a better question for member schools, if they feel it’s better or worse.”

Lyons, who coached Central Valley to three consecutive WPIAL Class 3A titles and back-to-back state championships, sees a mixed bag in six classes.

“The good is you maybe see some new names, new teams getting an opportunity, especially at the lower classes,” Lyons said. “That’s who it’s benefited more. But it’s really taken its toll on 6A because, obviously, they’ve got, what, five teams in that conference?”

Small-school success

Statistically, almost the same number of football teams qualify for the WPIAL playoffs. In 2015, there were 64 teams divided into four brackets. This fall, 66 teams will be split into six brackets. But now, far more small schools make the playoffs than big schools.

Combined, Class 6A, 5A and 4A receive 24 playoff spots. There are 42 spots for small-school teams from Class 3A, 2A and A. That’s because the WPIAL has more small schools (72) than big schools (45).

With added opportunities for small schools, the WPIAL is seeing some long playoff droughts end. Southmoreland in Class 2A reached the WPIAL playoffs in 2019 for the first time in 40 years. After moving up to 3A, the Scotties qualified again last season.

“The six-classification model has done more good than bad,” Southmoreland athletic director Dan Boring said. “With everything, you are always going to have some downsides to things. But, for us, I feel that it helped to even out the landscape of high school football, which, in turn, gave us a more competitive conference and ultimately paved the way for our recent playoff returns.”

But Boring agrees too many classes can water down some conferences.

“I feel that your classifications in the middle (2A, 3A, 4A) benefited the most,” he said.

A year ago, Leechburg, a Class A school, celebrated its first WPIAL playoff win since 1978. The Blue Devils drew a large home crowd to Veterans Stadium to watch their 28-7 win over California.

“No matter the sport, the goal should always be to get as many kids involved in that experience as possible,” Leechburg coach Randy Walters said. “That’s the biggest plus there is. We’re trying to keep kids involved and engaged, and it’s getting tougher and tougher.

“It’s always a good thing when more know they have a chance to be a part of something so special as the WPIAL playoffs.”

But Walters, a former Hempfield assistant coach, isn’t blind to how six classes has hurt the WPIAL’s largest classification. The WPIAL had 14 teams in 6A in 2016, but that number has dwindled to five.

The PIAA creates classifications by splitting all schools statewide into six evenly divided groups. There are far more big schools in Eastern Pennsylvania, so they make up a large percentage of Class 6A. District 1, which includes suburban Philadelphia, has 33 schools in 6A.

“I don’t know how 6A is going to survive in the WPIAL if it keeps going this way,” Walters said. “I can’t see how they are going to do the playoffs, to be honest with you. I think it would work better with five classes, and combined 5A and 6A.”

Staying put

From a statewide perspective, the PIAA sees six as the correct number of classes, Executive Director Bob Lombardi said. There’s no talk of shrinking to five or expanding to seven.

“From the anecdotal feedback I’ve received … including the football coaches association, they are very happy,” Lombardi said. “More like-sized schools are playing like-sized schools, and there’s not the large enrollment disparity, especially when we just had four classes.”

Lombardi said he’s heard positive reviews from the PIAA football committee and representatives of the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association.

“They think the competition is keener,” Lombardi said. “The competition is more on a level playing field. And they also feel it gives more schools the opportunity to advance in the postseason and ring the bell. So I’ve heard nothing but overwhelming support. But, again, sometimes I only hear all the good stuff.”

Leveling the playing field

Penn-Trafford Coach John Ruane, who guided his team to WPIAL and PIAA championships last season, said he has seen a more level playing field in Class 5A. Five different schools have won a WPIAL 5A title in six years.

This year, former 6A teams Hempfield, Norwin and Baldwin are joining 5A.

“There has been a lot of parity,” Ruane said. “There are a lot of good teams in this class, and a variety of teams have won titles and made runs in the playoffs.”

Ruane said an issue that stood out previously — travel — was fixed. In the first few years under six classes, WPIAL teams were making lengthy road trips, for nonconference and conference opponents.

The Warriors played games at Albert Gallatin (50 miles) and Trinity (55 miles) a few years ago.

Now, Plum is their farthest conference game.

“In our case, that improved,” Ruane said.

The WPIAL tried to fix the travel issue by hand-picking nonconference opponents and making conferences as geographically friendly as possible.

“When it spread to six classes, you started to see the conference spread out, too, and there ended up being a lot more travel,” Kiski Area Coach Sam Albert said. “It had to have been a lot more challenging for the (WPIAL) to align those conferences. You kept a few close (rivalry teams), but, no matter what, you ended up traveling long distances more often.”

Norwin Coach Dave Brozeski, whose team also will drop a class to 5A this fall, said the six-class model has worked – from a certain point of view. His Knights were among the smallest schools in 6A but now are among the biggest in 5A.

“If the goal was to have schools of similar size play each other, then yes, the model worked,” Brozeski said, “with the exception of 6A, because (that classification has) the largest spread of school sizes.”

In WPIAL football, Canon-McMillan is the smallest 6A school (563 boys), and North Allegheny is the largest (1,036). The PIAA counts students in grades 9-11 for enrollment purposes. Statewide, Reading has more than 2,000 boys.

“(Six classes) probably helps more out east where you have more big schools in 6A, and a lot of those schools control it,” Albert said. “In the WPIAL, we feel we’re the best district. We were hoping that it was going to be geared to benefit us, but I don’t think it is.”

Championship venues

Expansion to six classes has made one championship tradition more difficult. When there were only four classifications, the WPIAL played its football finals each year at Three Rivers Stadium or Heinz Field since 1986.

Since expansion, the WPIAL hasn’t been able to play all six games at the North Shore stadium for various reasons. This year, four of the six are there, but Class 6A and 5A are scheduled a week earlier at Norwin.

Missing out on that stadium experience could be the biggest downside to six classes, said Lyons, whose Central Valley team played there again last year.

“You can say it’s just as cool to play at a high school, unless you’re 15 or 16 years old,” Lyons said. “When you pull up in that bus and walk in where the Steelers walk in, you take the long walk down that corridor and they escort you to the locker room — there’s something about that.

“Getting to play at the stadium is a big deal.”

Staff writers Bill Beckner Jr. and Michael Love contributed.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.