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PIAA Releases Details for Six-Classification System

December 1, 2015

By Jacob Gill
Pennsylvania Assistant Director of Scouting

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association recently released its classification report for a new six-class system (up from four classes) to determine state champions. While there will be (and, no doubt, already have been) plenty who decry that the Keystone state is going to hell in a handbasket because "everyone gets a trophy," this system will be the new reality in Pennsylvania beginning with the 2016-17 school year. The point of this article is not to debate the relative merits of the system, but to look at what affect it could have on the post-season landscape.

The table below shows where the state tournament qualifiers from the past three seasons under the current four-class system would slot in the six-class system.

  Current 4A Current 3A Current 2A Current 1A
New 6A 38 - - -
New 5A 10 24 - -
New 4A - 22 8 -
New 3A - 2 25 -
New 2A - - 15 25
New 1A - - - 23

Note: Enrollment number referred to below is male enrollment in the freshman, sophomore, and junior classes as reported in the PIAA classification report.

The outlying two bids for the current 3A team that will remain 3A both belong to Tamaqua Area (2013, 2014). While the chart would seem to indicate that they are a big winner under the new system, given that they had significant success as one of the smallest schools in the current 3A and will soon be one of the largest schools in the new 3A, there are a couple caveats to that line of thought. First, Tamaqua's enrollment number is down almost 13%, which leads to a smaller talent base from which to draw. Second, can it be called a win when perennial power Loyalsock Township (2A state champs in 2013 & 2014, semifinalist in 2015) is in one's grouping?

Neumann-Goretti (2A state finalist in 2015, semifinalist in 2014) is in a similar, if even more stark situation, as its enrollment number dropped nearly 34% from the current cycle to the upcoming one, keeping it in the new 2A going forward. While this type of decline could potentially cripple a public school, not having boundaries from which to draw should mitigate the effect and keep the Saints as a leading contender. Given that they are one of the top programs, of any size, in the Philadelphia Catholic League, a state berth in the new 2A could become all but a birthright.

2015 4A state runner-up Wyoming Valley West is one of those public schools with boundary limitations, however, and will soon find itself competing in the new 5A after experiencing almost a 32% drop (654 to 446) in enrollment number.

Following three straight state tournament trips in class 2A (where it competed against schools whose male enrollment capped in the mid-250s), Quaker Valley (enrollment number up 13% from 218 to 247) is slated to move to the new 4A (where male enrollment peaks in the mid-350s).

A solid Whitehall program is one whose chances of earning a state berth look to be significantly boosted. The Zephyrs go from being one of the smallest 4A schools in District XI (where they had to compete with the likes of back-to-back-to-back district champ Parkland, which is more than twice its size, for just one available state bid) to being far and away the largest 5A school in the district under the new system.

Bonner-Prendergast, long competitive in the Philadelphia Catholic League, has a chance to get out from under the shadow of its larger compatriots, as it is one of only two PCL teams (Lansdale Catholic being the other) who will vie for a District XII bid in the new 4A. And while Conwell-Egan doesn't have quite the same history of recent success, it is in a similar situation to the Friars in the new 3A.

In District I, West Chester East, West Chester Rustin, and West Chester Henderson will likely have an increased opportunity of sparking an in-town post-season rivalry to match the regular-season version, as all three move from among the smaller schools in the current 4A to among the biggest in the new 5A.

Quite a rivalry has developed in 3A between Abington Heights out of District II and Jersey Shore Area from District IV, as the two programs met in the state tournament first round each of the past three seasons. However, that possibility will no longer exist, as Abington Heights is headed to 5A due to an enrollment number that held steady while Jersey Shore will move to the new 4A following a decline of 16% (347 to 291).

For five straight years (2008-2013), Old Forge and Lackawanna Trail met in the championship game with the District II 1A berth on the line. The rivalry will continue, barely, under the new system, as the Blue Devils and Lions will be the two smallest schools statewide in the new 2A, each just a couple of students away from slotting in 1A. Meyersdale Area and Southern Fulton have similarly butted heads in the District V 1A title game recently, and will continue to do so, as both will soon be among the larger schools in the new 1A.

Unlike the two other large districts (I and III) that are loaded with bigger schools, the WPIAL (District VII) has an uncanny balance of programs across the four-class system that has granted it three state tournament bids in each class. That trend should continue, as each of the upcoming six classes will have between 19 and 24 WPIAL representatives.

Only three of the twelve state title games from the past three seasons would have had a chance to occur under the new system: 2015 2A finalists Neshannock and Neumann-Goretti will both remain in 2A; 2014 4A finalists North Penn and Conestoga will both be in the new 6A; and 2014 2A finalists Loyalsock Township and Central will both move to the new 3A. Interestingly, in championship games over the past three years that featured schools to be split by the new system, the school from the impending smaller classification prevailed six of nine times, hinting that school size and depth of talent pool can only take a team so far.

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