With only 12 full-time employees, there is no need to expand the Gettysburg Road building that is shaded by green trees and connected to a nondescript parking lot.

In this case, however, looks are deceiving.

What resembles a mom-and-pop setup is actually a giant organization that oversees nearly all of high school football - and other sports - in the state.

This season, the Philadelphia Catholic League, which boasts some of the area's best football teams and players, becomes a full-fledged PIAA District 12 member. And that comes after the PIAA took charge of the city's huge Public League five years ago.

As for down the road, there have been preliminary discussions about the Inter-Academic League football teams joining the PIAA.

So, with 598 teams already in the fold and perhaps more on the way, the PIAA has become a kind of NCAA of Pennsylvania high school football. If it's football, it's most likely PIAA football.

"We kind of thought that [adding the Catholic League] was the one last missing piece that we wanted," said Melissa Mertz, the assistant executive director of the PIAA. "We . . . stayed away from our championships being considered a true state championship because the whole state wasn't represented."

Now it almost is.

"We are now at the point that we can say it is a true state championship," said Brad Cashman, the PIAA executive director.

Of course, there are issues with such expansion. Longstanding local rivalries have ended due to scheduling changes, and the addition of the powerful Catholic League to District 12 this season will likely keep some Public League teams out of the playoffs.

But the benefits, most coaches and players say, greatly outweigh any problems that crop up. Most teams, for example, embrace playing on a statewide stage instead of in one local league.

"I think this is a great opportunity for us to show what we are all about," said Mike Pereira, a senior linebacker at St. Joseph's Prep, one of the Catholic League's traditional powerhouses. "And maybe we can put an end to all of this Western Pennsylvania bias."

And the expansion is about more than members. With the addition of the Catholic League, Cashman said he would love to expand the football classifications from the current four to six. That means more champions and more competition.

That plan, previously turned down by the PIAA board of directors, is to be presented to the board again in 2010.

"If you have [598] football-playing schools now, there is a better argument to let's go to six classes," Cashman said, referring to the addition of the Catholic League. "Let's go to 100 [in] each class and shorten the season by one week, too.

For this season, the focus is on the Catholic League.

Immediately, St. Joseph's Prep becomes a Class AAAA state champion contender. The Hawks are ranked 34th nationally in the ESPN Rise Fab 50 preseason rankings and are No. 2 in The Inquirer's preseason Top 10.

West Catholic could contend right away for the Class AA state title, and Archbishop Wood and Lansdale Catholic should be formidable Class AAA teams.

But it's St. Joseph's Prep that most observers will be watching closely. Having won the last four Class AAAA state football titles, Pittsburgh area teams have been considered the best of the PIAA.