One of the most-talked about subjects in WPIAL sports right now is what will the league look like next year with the adoption of six classifications in some sports. The landscape of WPIAL football is the most popular subject.
Over the next month, the WPIAL will get feedback from school officials on their desires, and the league will try to come up with a "new" realignment for all sports.
Well, Varsity Blog is here to help in football. Consider it Varsity Blog's Christmas gift to the WPIAL.
Football will take the most work and creativity to realign. Some questions still need to be answered, but check out the alignment and system below. It could work. The WPIAL has said six classes will create too much travel for teams. But with the below alignment, most schools fit into conferences that are geographically friendly, like now. A few will have to travel a decent amount, but that is no different than now.
Plus, the WPIAL has said some natural rivalries will be lost. But this system lets you keep some of those rivalry games if you want. Just play them as non-conference games. This system also lets you get playoff teams for six classes.
No matter the alignment, the WPIAL's biggest concern is still championship games at Heinz Field. You can't play six games in one day at Heinz Field. The WPIAL's desire to keep their special day with four games intact is understandable. It's a great day. But it says here that playing four Heinz and two at some other nice high school venue is fine. Rotate the two that don't play at Heinz Field. I wish the Pirates would step up and let two be played at PNC Park. How nice would that be? Hey, Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium is able to have football games at their fields for colleges. Why couldn't PNC have two high school games and make it affordable for the WPIAL. It would be a great PR move for the Pirates – and players and fans would probably love it.
WPIAL executive director Tim O'Malley doesn't want to play four games at Heinz and two somewhere else. Understandable. But a sampling of a number of coaches showed they wouldn't mind. For years, the WPIAL used to play a championship game or two at a pro or college stadium, and another or two somewhere else.
Lastly, the WPIAL is thinking of coming up with a playoff system that would still have only four WPIAL championship games, but six teams would go on and represent the league in the PIAA playoffs. For example, 6A and 5A might play in one WPIAL class, 4A and 3A in another. Then 2A and 1A would have their own tournaments.
The below system allows for such. But I know a lot of 5A teams want nothing to do with having to play a playoff game or a championship game against a 6A team.
The other two main questions are how many regular-season games will be played and how many teams does the WPIAL take to the playoffs in each classification? With 14 teams in 6A, 18 in 5A and 4A, you can't take 16 teams to the playoffs in each class, like now. I contend eight in each class or maybe 12, with first-round byes. The WPIAL used byes for a few years. The WPIAL could maybe examine taking 16 teams in 2A (26 teams) and 1A (23) because they have more teams.
This system might need tinkered once the PIAA playoff brackets come out and once you see when WPIAL teams enter the PIAA tournament. Also, this system might need tinkered with again, once we see if any teams are electing to play "up" in classification. But whatdya think? Here goes (we hope we got everyone's classification correct):
CLASS 6A (14)
SEASON: Go with possibly a 10-game regular season because there are fewer teams in this class. If you must, go with nine games. Each team gets six conference games. In a 10-game schedule, each team plays two "crossover" games against the other conference. Plus, each team plays two non-conference games down against 5A teams, so you can preserve some rivalries if you want. For example, North Allegheny could play North Hills. Upper St. Clair could play Mt. Lebanon.
The teams in the southern suburbs – and also Altoona - will have some travel, but there isn't much else to do. Altoona travels a lot now.
CONFERENCE A (7) – North Allegheny, Seneca Valley, Butler, Pine-Richland, Shaler, Canon-McMillan, Mt. Lebanon.
CONFERENCE B (7) – Hempfield, Central Catholic, Peters Township, Norwin, Bethel Park, Penn Hills, Alttona.
CLASS 5A (18)
SEASON: A 10-game schedule. Nine, if you must. In a 10-game regular season, each team gets eight conference games. Plus, they get the two non-conference games playing up against 6A teams to preserve some natural rivalries. Conference B fits nicely geographically. Conference A isn't bad. Armstrong will have to travel a lot, but it would no matter what. Conference A has a mix of North, South and West teams that aren't "that" far from each other.
CONFERENCE A (9) – Upper St. Clair, Baldwin, Fox Chapel, North Hills, Armstrong, Moon, Chartiers Valley, Hampton, West Allegheny.
CONFERENCE B (9) – Plum, Connellsville, Penn-Trafford, Woodland Hills, Latrobe, Franklin Regional, Kiski Area, Gateway, McKeesport.
CLASS 4A (18)
SEASON: You can use a nine- or 10-game schedule. Each team gets eight conference games and one or two "crossover" games against the other conference. Indiana is going to travel a lot, but there isn't much else you can do with Indiana. Conference B is pretty much the Big 10 Conference now.
CONFERENCE A (9) – Mars, Montour, Knoch, Blackhawk, Highlands, Indiana, New Castle, Ambridge, South Fayette.
CONFERENCE B (9) – Trinity, Albert Gallatin, Laurel Highlands, Thomas Jefferson, West Mifflin, Greensburg Salem, Ringgold, Belle Vernon, Uniontown.
3A, 2A and 1A
SEASON: PLEASE NOTE: THIS GOES FOR ALL OF CLASS 3A, 2A AND 1A. Stick with me on this. I'm going to try and offer a system that helps the WPIAL with scheduling of non-conference games. This system can be tinkered with, but here goes:
Nine-game schedules for Class 3A, 2A and 1A. The first week of the season, the 47 teams in 3A and 2A, plus one City League team, go into a pot and they play non-conference games. That same week, all 23 1A teams and one City League team go into one pot and non-conference games are played.
The second week of the season, Conference A and Conference B in Class 2A start conference games. There are nine teams in those conferences. The teams off play each other. That same week, take the rest of the 52 teams in 3A, 2A and 1A and put them in one pot and make non conference matchups.
The third week of the season, things get a little nutty, but stay with me. In the third week, conference play starts for 2A Conference C, and also 1A Conference A and B. Now, all three conferences in 3A, and 1A Conference C have one more week of non-conference games. Put those 28 teams, along with all six City League teams, into one pot and make non-conference games and try to make the best matchups.
Starting in week 4, conference play will start for all three seven-team conferences in 3A as well as the seven-team Conference C in 1A. The teams from those conferences that don't have a conference game, play each other. Also, possibly use two City League teams to make some better matchups.
As I said, you could tinker with this system some for 3A, 2A and 1A non-conference games if you like.
But here are the conference breakdown:
CLASS 3A (21)
CONFERENCE A (7) – Elizabeth Forward, South Park, Keystone Oaks, McGuffey, Yough, Waynesburg, Southmoreland.
CONFERENCE B (7) – Beaver, Aliquippa (playing up), Central Valley, Hopewell, Beaver Falls, Ellwood City, Quaker Valley
CONFERENCE C (7) – Derry, Deer Lakes, Freeport, Mount Pleasant, Valley, Shady Side Academy, Burrell.
CLASS 2A (26)
Vincentian might fit a little better in Conference B, but in order to balance the sections more, we put Vincentian in Conference A. You could maybe come up with a system of putting Vincentian in Conference B, but we'll go with this right now.
CONFERENCE A (9) – East Allegheny, Steel Valley, South Allegheny, Carlynton, Brentwood, Serra, Apollo-Ridge, Seton-LaSalle, Vincentian.
CONFERENCE B (9) – Riverside, New Brighton, Avonworth, South Side Beaver, Mohawk, Freedom, North Catholic, Laurel, Neshannock.
CONFERENCE C (8) – Brownsville, Charleroi, Washington, Beth-Center, Burgettstown, Frazier, Bentworth, Chartiers-Houston.
CLASS 1A (23)
CONFERENCE A (8) – Shenango, Summit Academy, Western Beaver, Rochester, Union, OLSH, Sto-Rox, Northgate.
CONFERENCE B (8) – Carmichaels, California, Jefferson-Morgan, West Greene, Mapletown, Monessen, Avella, Fort Cherry.
CONFERENCE C (7) – Bishop Canevin, Riverview, Springdale, Jeannette, Greensburg Central Catholic, Leechburg, Clairton.