Schools get some say as WPIAL releases football schedules for 2022, ’23 seasons

By: Chris Harlan
Thursday, February 24, 2022 | 11:13 AM

The WPIAL tried a new approach for scheduling nonconference football games this year by giving teams a say in who they play.

Teams also got to say who they won’t play.

Schools were surveyed this winter and asked to list five nonconference opponents they would prefer to face next fall and two teams they’d rather avoid. The WPIAL took those suggestions into consideration when making the schedules released Thursday for the the 2022 and ’23 seasons.

“We were very successful in getting most schools a team they requested — maybe in some cases two — and avoiding the schools they wanted to avoid,” WPIAL executive director Amy Schueneman said.

The WPIAL’s scheduling method has evolved in recent years in response to complaints about on-field mismatches and long bus rides. Two seasons ago, the league scrapped the grid system that assigned nonconference games mostly at random and started choosing matchups by hand.

Competitiveness and geography became determining factors for the WPIAL, but this time, the schools were more involved in the decisions.

“From that regard, we took a different approach,” Scheuneman said.

The WPIAL also was able to approach each classification somewhat uniquely based on feedback from the survey. For example, the majority of Class A schools wanted to play other Class A opponents rather than bigger schools in 2A.

“So they may be traveling farther, but they’re against similar-sized schools,” Scheuneman said.

The nonconference matchups are mostly grouped at the start of the season in Class A, 2A, 3A and 4A. However, that’s not the case in Class 5A and 6A schedules.

The number of teams in Class 6A — five — required the nonconference games be spread throughout the schedule. As a result, some of the top nonconference matchups fall late in the season. Penn-Trafford visits North Allegheny in Week 8, and Central Catholic hosts Gateway in Week 9.

One detail schools won’t know for a while is how many teams from each classification qualify for the WPIAL playoffs. Scheuneman said the WPIAL can’t make that determination until the PIAA finalizes its state playoff brackets.

The PIAA discussed tentative brackets at Wednesday’s board meeting, but they likely won’t be finalized until May. So the WPIAL may not decide on qualifiers or championship sites, including Heinz Field arrangements, until summer.

“There has to at least be some finality (by the PIAA) … before we make a decision,” Scheuneman said.

The schedules list all games on Fridays, but Scheuneman encouraged schools to consider playing on a Thursday or Saturday to accomodate a shortage of officials.

There were some interesting matchups when the WPIAL revealed the new schedules.

Belle Vernon drew one of the tougher nonconference schedules. The Leopards dropped to Class 3A this season but have nonconference matchups with returning playoff teams Laurel Highlands, McKeesport, Penn-Trafford and Thomas Jefferson in consecutive order. All four opponents play in Class 4A or 5A.

The schedules were on hold for a couple of weeks while the PIAA decided which classification Aliquippa would occupy. The Quips, who remained in Class 4A, open their season with nonconference contests against Armstrong and North Catholic before jumping into Parkway Conference play.

Among the other notable games, Washington visits Clairton in Week 1. Mt. Lebanon starts its WPIAL and PIAA title defense at home with a nonconference game against Bethel Park.

Upper St. Clair visits rival Mt. Lebanon in Week 5.

Newly hired Pine-Richland coach Jon LeDonne won’t wait long to make his return to Penn Hills. The Rams visit their conference opponent in Week 2.

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.