Competition ratchets up a notch for many teams

“It’s a great section,” said Hampton coach Joe Lafko, who also mentioned Moon and West Allegheny as the other two teams to round it out. “I don’t think you’re going to have a night off. It’s going to be competitive each night. It wouldn’t surprise me if there are three or four teams from this section in the final [four] of the WPIAL playoffs.”

While that section looks to be the toughest from top to bottom in 5A, at least judging by previous seasons’ results, it’s far from the only shakeup.

Class 6A enters the new WPIAL landscape largely unchanged; it has one fewer section, dropping from four to three, but features many of the same teams from the old Class AAAA. The northern section (now Section 1) with the likes of North Allegheny, PineRichland and North Hills stays exactly the same, while the southern section (Section 2) loses Chartiers Valley and Moon, but adds Connellsville. Section 3, the only one in 6A with eight teams, is now a mix of those that last year were in Sections 1 and 2, including Latrobe, Norwin, Fox Chapel and Penn Hills.

So while the balance of power shouldn’t shift much in the largest classification, 4A is very much a new-look league. With three sections and 23 teams — two with eight teams and one with seven — the combatants in Section 2 figure to have the toughest road.

It’s mostly the same as last year’s Class AAA Section 2, stocked with Beaver County teams and including perennial powers Beaver Falls and New Castle, but also adds Quaker Valley, coming off a PIAA playoff berth in Class AA.

“It’ll be very exciting. It’ll be a challenge every night, especially with us moving up,” said Quakers coach Mike Mastroianni, who brings back four starters from a group that finished 22-7. “I’m not sure if anyone’s ever ready for that type of section, but we’re fortunate that we do have some returning players. So I guess if there ever was a group that we were going to get moved up, this might be a good group.

“We’re going to have our hands full playing every night, but it’ll be fun. I think the kids that we have now, it’s a good match for their personality because they’re competitive, and playing in it every night will give us some battles that will probably benefit them and get them ready.”

The Quakers also will have some farther road trips now — an hour-long drive to New Castle, around 45 minutes to Beaver Falls