Alle-Kiski Valley high school notebook: Various programs face WPIAL alignment shakeups

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, November 18, 2017 | 8:12 PM

The impact of the PIAA's new enrollment figures and classification breakdowns will reverberate throughout the WPIAL and locally in the Alle-Kiski Valley.

With the new enrollment figures, nearly 20 Alle-Kiski Valley teams will see their classification change unless they choose to voluntarily “play up,” moving to a higher classification to compete against schools with larger enrollments.

In football, Valley's numbers placed the Vikings into Class 2A, a drop from their current position in Class 3A. Apollo-Ridge also is classified as a Class 2A team but played up in 3A the past two seasons.

The sport with the most schools affected is boys basketball, where six A-K Valley teams would change classifications under the new figures. The affected schools are Apollo-Ridge, which would drop from 3A to 2A; Deer Lakes, which would drop from 4A to 3A; Highlands, which would drop from 5A to 4A; Leechburg, which would drop from 2A to A; Plum, which would drop from 6A to 5A; and Valley, which would drop from 4A to 3A.

Other impacts from the new figures include:

• Baseball: Deer Lakes would fall from Class 4A to 3A, and Plum from 6A to 5A.

• Girls basketball: Deer Lakes, Leechburg and Valley all would drop in classification, with Deer Lakes and Valley going from 4A to 3A and Leechburg from 2A to A.

• Boys soccer: Kiski Area would go from Class AAAA to AAA.

• Girls soccer: Kiski Area and Plum each would drop from Class AAAA to AAA. Springdale, a Class AA school that played up in AAA the past two seasons, can choose to play in AA.

• Softball: Riverview would rise from Class A to 2A. Springdale would fall from 2A to A.

• Girls volleyball: Kiski Area would drop from Class AAAA to AAA.

Hello, 'Mello

After a strong senior season that included a dominant performance in a victory over Blackhawk, Highlands senior Romello Freeman was named to the Allegheny Nine Conference's first team. He was the only Highlands player selected to the first team.

Freeman led the Golden Rams (5-4) in receiving, catching 26 passes for 766 yards and 11 touchdowns. He also had 40 tackles and four interceptions on defense to earn second-team all-conference honors at defensive back.

Other Highlands all-conference players included second-teamers Gabe Booker (running back), Logan Crise (wide receiver), Noah Gillette (inside linebacker) and Mario Sienko (offensive tackle) and honorable mentions Seth Cohen (quarterback), Johnny Crise (defensive back), Logan Crise (defensive back and punter), Tyler Sportelli (inside linebacker), Cam Taylor (running back) and Dan Thimons (defensive end).

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Deer Lakes, Highlands, Kiski School, Leechburg, Plum, Riverview, Valley