Penguins Cup champs ‘rewarded’ with bump up in class
Tri-State Sports & News Service
Franklin Regional and Plum won the second Penguins Cup titles in school history this year.
And each found out that there is something of a penalty for success.
As part of the annual PIHL realignment, Plum and Franklin Regional were moved up in classification. The Panthers, who won back-to-back titles in Class 1A, will now play in Class 2A, while the Class 2A champion Mustangs are now in Class 3A.
“It’s unfortunate at this point and everybody within our organization, our president [Dom Borriello] was very upset and disappointed in the outcome,” Plum coach Vincent Somma said. “We had discussions, but this is what happens when you don’t use common sense and you try to put technology in a position where technology is not 100 percent needed.”
For the past several years, the PIHL has instituted a formula that takes into account the total number of team victories and weighs those wins based on whatever classification a team is playing in. It makes wins at the Class 3A level worth more than those in Class 2A with Class 1A victories the lowest weighted.
Though the system is meant to keep a competitive balance within the league, there is an obvious drawback. Because teams are rated with players who have potentially graduated, they may not have either the depth or talent to compete at a higher level once they get moved up.
Plum graduated 11 seniors and will only have 16 players on its varsity roster next season. The Mustangs will likely not have a junior varsity team and may not field a freshman squad in 2017-18.
“To pair us with teams like North Allegheny and Seneca Valley, some of them have two JV teams and a varsity team and cut kids,” Somma said. “But we’ll play the hand we’re dealt. The good news is that our team is resilient, we have a lot of good kids coming back and we have a goaltender [Sergio Benitez] who’s going to be the best goaltender out there no matter what division we’re in, so we’re going to be OK.”
Another team that went through that process was Armstrong, which won the Class 2A East Division and made it into the Penguins Cup semifinals in 2016. After moving up to Class 3A last year, the River Hawks finished 5-15-0 and were 10th out of 11 teams.
Armstrong will drop back down to Class 2A next season and will be joined by the two other teams that missed the Class 3A playoffs, lastplace Upper St. Clair and ninth-place Pine-Richland. Taking their places will be Plum, Mt. Lebanon and Moon.
In addition to Franklin Regional, West Division champion Baldwin will also make the move up to Class 2A along with Montour.
Perhaps the biggest change will come in Class 1A, and not just because of the surprising drop from Class 2A by 2016 Penguins Cup champion Bishop Canevin. Fox Chapel, which was winless last season and did not earn a point, also moved down after qualifying for the Class 2A postseason tournament in 2016 as did West Allegheny, which had the best record in Class 1A in 2016, but dropped back down after a 2-17-0 year in 2017.
There are other changes as this year’s Division 2 champion Meadville, which has won eight Penguins Cup titles, will move back up to compete in Class 1A. Blackhawk will also move up from the developmental league after a 4-15-2 year in Class B as will Greensburg Central Catholic, a state champion in 1994 and 1996 which had a 2-15-1 record in Class C.
Deer Lakes, which dropped its varsity program to concentrate on its junior varsity team after making it to the Class 1A Penguins Cup semifinals in 2015, will play a varsity slate and compete once again in Class 1A.