Top two classes get break

No Philadelphia teams until finals

For the past two years, the WPIAL football champion in Class 6A and 5A had to play a team from the Philadelphia Catholic League in the semifinals. It appears that won’t be the case for the next two seasons.

The PIAA board of directors met Wednesday and approved new football playoff brackets for the next two seasons. The brackets must pass two more readings.

Under the new brackets, the District 12 champion (Philadelphia Catholic and Public League) will move back to the eastern side of the brackets. Here is the situation for the WPIAL champ in the top two classifications:

• The WPIAL Class 6A champ will enter the PIAA playoffs in the quarterfinals in Week 13 of the season. The WPIAL champ will play the City League representative or the champion from District 10 (Erie area). The winner of that game will play in the semifinals against a team from District 2, 3, 4 or 6. The Philadelphia area teams are on the other side of the bracket.

• The WPIAL Class 5A champ will enter the PIAA playoffs in the semifinals in Week 14 of the season and will play the No. 1 team from District 3 (Harrisburg area). The Philadelphia area teams are on the other side of the bracket.

In the past two seasons, the WPIAL champ in Class 6A has lost in the semifinals to St. Joseph’s Prep of the Philadelphia Catholic League. This season, WPIAL 5A champ Gateway lost in the semifinals to Archbishop Wood, also of the Philadelphia Catholic League. In 2018, Penn Hills defeated Archbishop Wood in the semifinals.

For the other four classifications (Class 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A), the WPIAL champ will enter the PIAA playoffs in the semifinals in Week 14 of the season.

• The WPIAL Class 4A champ will play a team from the City League, District 6, 9 or

10.

• The WPIAL Class 3A champ will play a team from District 5, 6, 9 or 10.

• The WPIAL Class 2A champ will play a team from the City League or District 5, 9 or 10.

• The WPIAL Class 1A champ will play a team from District 5, 9 or 10.

Although the new PIAA brackets must pass two more votes, the WPIAL can proceed with making playoff formats.

WPIAL executive director Tim O’Malley said the league plans to release football schedules (conference and non-conference games) within the next two weeks. He is not certain when the WPIAL will release playoff formats.

The WPIAL must decide how many teams it will take to the playoffs in each classification and which four classification championships will be staged at Heinz Field. The WPIAL could have eight-, 12or even 16-team brackets for the playoffs.

WPIAL playoffs will not be the same for all classifications. Class 6A will be different, mainly because Class 6A has only eight teams. Also, under the proposed new PIAA brackets, the WPIAL Class 6A champion enters the PIAA playoffs in Week 13, one week earlier than the other five classifications.

Another issue to iron out is playoff byes. The past four seasons, the WPIAL Class 3A champ has gotten a week off after the WPIAL title game before its first PIAA game. Three of the past four WPIAL 3A champs have gone on to win the PIAA title (Beaver Falls, Quaker Valley and Aliquippa). The PIAA has not yet taken a public stance on byes before the state playoffs.