PIAA moves to six classes for football
The PIAA made some major changes in its two-hour board of directors meeting Wednesday afternoon in Mechanicsburg. By a 26-4 count, it voted to expand the football playoffs from four to six classifications. That is to take effect in the 2016-17 school year.
The PIAA made some major changes in its two-hour board of directors meeting Wednesday afternoon in Mechanicsburg.
By a 26-4 count, it voted to expand the football playoffs from four to six classifications. That is to take effect in the 2016-17 school year.
In a second vote, the board voted on suspended protocol to expand to six classifications in boys' and girls' basketball, baseball, and softball. Boys' and girls' soccer and boys' and girls' volleyball will increase to four classes, field hockey to three, and boys' and girls' lacrosse to two. That proposal passed by a 23-7 count.
"It's a mixed bag," said Rod Stone, District 1's executive secretary. "For some schools, it going to be a great thing. For others, it's not going to be great. It helps some schools that end up at the top of a lower classification."
For football, the plan is to have six evenly distributed classes. Enrollment figures for the next two-year cycle (2016-2018) are being submitted by schools this month. After a school is positioned by enrollment, it has the option to play up in classification.
In moving to six classes, the football season will be reduced from 16 to 15 weeks.
Several other football proposals were shot down earlier this year, including the possible switch to a Super 700 classification. Had the Super 700 proposal passed, schools with 700 or more students would have competed at the highest level with the other five classifications split evenly.
Of the expansion to six evenly distributed classifications, Downingtown West football coach Mike Milano said, "I don't think it fixes anything. It really doesn't. I thought the PIAA was going to take a closer look at other issues.
"If they were trying to level the playing field, they should have addressed the mega-school issue and the private-school issue."
Said Souderton football coach Ed Gallagher: "The PIAA has no interest in separating the public and private schools. That's because they foresee potential legal problems if they tried to do that."
Also for football, schools will now have the option of playing a nine-game regular season and two scrimmages or a 10-game regular season with one scrimmage.
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