Six-class setup mostly intact

The WPIAL officially unveiled its new set of football conference alignments for the 2020-21 cycle Monday, and for the most part, the league’s six-classification system will remain unchanged.

After initially presenting two drastically different alignment proposals in a “town-hall” style meeting with school principals, athletic directors and coaches Jan. 8 at North Hills High School, the WPIAL asked its 119 football-playing member schools which method each prefers. The WPIAL football steering committee met Thursday to make a final decision on the alignment, and the board of directors approved it Monday.

The verdict is in, and the vast majority of schools wished to keep things “status quo,” so the WPIAL obliged.

“It was a lot of work,” said WPIAL associate executive director Amy Scheuneman. “I think a lot of people benefit from that work, so it’s time wellserved.”

Under the “new” alignment, the WPIAL will still have six classifications and six postseason tournaments, and conferences will continue to be made up strictly by classifications and geography, when possible. Playoff spots will still be determined by conference games. While the WPIAL has decided to stick with the status quo, there will still be some changes in this two -year cycle — most notably when it comes to non-conference games.

In the past, the WPIAL scheduled non-conference opponents at random and the games were spread out throughout the season. Under the new alignment, all non-conference games will be played at the beginning of the season and scheduled by the WPIAL based on geography and competitiveness. The league hopes this will help alleviate concerns expressed by some schools about traveling too far for non-conference matchups.

“I think the compromise we came up with will address their issues, because we have realigned those crossover games,” Scheuneman said. “So when you look at proposal No. 2, a lot of those matchups will still occur — it’s just how they qualify for the playoffs that may be different in that regard.”

The other proposal would have called for a “regional” approach to conference alignment, in which schools would be placed in conferences based on geography, while conferences would have teams from two and sometimes three different classifications. This would have required a power rankings system to determine playoff spots, in which teams would have received more points for wins against opponents from larger classifications.

As for the two proposals issued Jan. 8, 72.1% of schools voted for the proposal that keeps the “status quo.”

Schedules for both conference and non-conference games will be released in the next few weeks.