WPIAL notebook: Kiski Area doesn’t want to share section with Penn Hills

By: Chris Harlan
Wednesday, April 13, 2022 | 7:55 PM

The racially charged dispute between Penn Hills and Kiski Area wasn’t resolved, so the WPIAL may keep those teams apart in future years.

Kiski Area formally asked the WPIAL to keep its teams in separate sections from Penn Hills when new alignments are created, a request the WPIAL board will try to honor, WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said. The schools do not share a section in any of the new alignments finalized for the 2022-23 school year.

“The board did make note of their request and will do so if possible, but cannot make any guarantees,” Scheuneman said after the WPIAL board met Wednesday.

The dispute stems from allegations that Kiski Area fans targeted Penn Hills players with racist taunts at a March 2 middle school volleyball game. Kiski Area administrators said they investigated and found no evidence to corroborate the allegations.

Penn Hills decided to forfeit all games scheduled against Kiski Area this spring including two varsity softball section contests. The WPIAL board officially accepted those forfeits Wednesday.

Under PIAA bylaws, the WPIAL is permitted to discipline schools that voluntarily forfeit, but the league won’t take action against Penn Hills in this instance, Scheuneman said. Instead, the WPIAL board will draft and publish written repercussions as a deterrent for future voluntarily forfeits by any member school.

The league in recent years has made exceptions for forfeits caused by covid-19 cases but has taken a strong stance against teams that could play but forfeit by choice.

The bylaws as written leave the severity of the punishment to the discretion of the WPIAL board, which considers that language too vague. So, the WPIAL intends to create a consistent penalty for voluntary forfeits.

“To (prevent) this from becoming some sort of ‘out’ for teams not to participate, the board will come up with a minimum standard for anyone who voluntarily forfeits,” Scheuneman said. “What that will be will be determined at a later date.”

Scheuneman said the WPIAL may decide that any team that voluntarily forfeits a section contest is ineligible for postseason play.

“If they choose not to play section contests, they may lose championship rights,” she said. “They’ll know from our office going forward, ‘This is your penalty if you make that decision.’”

The WPIAL intends to have the well-defined repercussions in place before the fall. However, whatever discipline the WPIAL chooses will not impact Penn Hills for its forfeits this spring.

3-game series

WPIAL Class 6A baseball teams will play a three-game series against every section opponent next season, a tweak to the 2023 schedule that those big-school teams requested.

Those section games will be scheduled on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

All other classifications will continue playing a two-game series.

The WPIAL took a different approach with 6A because there are only 11 schools in the classification divided into sections of five and six teams. Section 1 includes Allderdice, Butler, North Allegheny, Pine-Richland and Seneca Valley. Section 2 has Baldwin, Canon-McMillan, Central Catholic, Hempfield, Mt. Lebanon and Norwin.

The WPIAL approved 2023 section alignments for a number of spring sports.

Leadership change

The WPIAL board must replace both its president and vice president this summer.

President Scott Seltzer did not seek reelection and vice president Patrick Mannarino’s reelection bid fell short. Election results were revealed Wednesday during the WPIAL annual meeting with athletic directors.

Seltzer is assistant superintendent at Chartiers Valley. Mannarino is superintendent at North Hills.

Mannarino finished 11th on a WPIAL ballot with 19 candidates. The top 10 vote-getters earned at-large seats on the board.

Earning reelection were Peters Township’s Brian Geyer (92 votes), Trinity’s Ricci Rich (92), West Allegheny’s Dave McBain (89), Seneca Valley’s Heather Lewis (86), Hopewell’s Michael Allison (68) and Fox Chapel’s Michael O’Brien (67). All are athletic director with exception of Allison, who’s a principal.

Two newcomers are Carlynton athletic director Nate Milsom (63) and Brentwood principal Jason Olexa (62). Mannarino had 57 votes.

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.