The job of realignment is never an easy one. Monday, the powerful Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Conference, known as the WPIAL, announced its realignment for the 2020 and 2021 high school football seasons.
The bi-annual alignment is based on enrollment figures. Class 6A is for schools with more than 582 boys. Here are the rest of the classifications — 5A is 399-582 boys, 4A is 275-398 boys, 3A is 196-274 boys, 2A is 130-196 boys and 1A is 130 boys and below.
There are a couple of interesting moves. Let start at the top where Pine-Richland is moving down from Class 6A to 5A. The Rams have played in three of the four WPIAL 6A championship games since the state moved from four to six classifications in 2016.
There will only be eight teams in Class 6A, because Butler decided to drop-out of the league. Moving into 6A this year will be Baldwin, which has played the last two years at 5A.
Over the last month, there’s been lots of talk about Aliquippa being a 4A school over the next two seasons. The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association bumped the Quips from 3A to 4A on its competitive formula that was introduced in 2018 to address a program’s success and takes into consideration the number of transfers a program has taken.
Aliquippa’s enrollment qualifies the Quips to be a 1A school, but the school chose to “play-up” two classifications over the last two years.
2020-21 WPIAL football alignment
Class 6A (8 teams)
Section 1
Baldwin
Canon-McMillan
Central Catholic
Hempfield
Mt. Lebanon
North Allegheny
Norwin
Seneca Valley
Class 5A (18 teams)
Section 1
Bethel Park
Moon
Peters Township
South Fayette
Upper St. Clair
West Allegheny
Section 2
Connellsville
Franklin Regional
Gateway
Latrobe
Penn-Trafford
Woodland Hills
Section 3
Fox Chapel
Kiski Area
North Hills
Penn Hills
Pine-Richland
Shaler
Class 4A (22 teams)
Section 1
Aliquippa
Beaver
Blackhawk
Chartiers Valley
Montour
New Castle
Section 2
Armstrong
Greensburg Salem
Hampton
Highlands
Indiana
Knoch
Mars
Plum
Section 3
Belle Vernon
Laurel Highlands
McKeesport
Ringgold
Thomas Jefferson
Trinity
Uniontown
West Mifflin
Class 3A (20 teams)
Section 1
Ambridge
Avonworth
Central Valley
Hopewell
Keystone Oaks
Quaker Valley
Section 2
Burrell
Deer Lakes
Derry
East Allegheny
Freeport
North Catholic
Valley
Section 3
Brownsville
Elizabeth Forward
Mt. Pleasant
South Allegheny
Southmoreland
South Park
Yough
Class 2A (27 teams)
Section 1
Apollo-Ridge
Ligonier Valley
Serra Catholic
Shady Side Academy
Steel Valley
Summit Academy
Section 2
Beaver Falls
Ellwood City
Freedom
Laurel
Mohawk
Neshannock
New Brighton
Riverside
Section 3
Beth-Center
Chartiers-Houston
Charleroi
Frazier
McGuffey
Washington
Waynesburg
Section 4
Brentwood
Carlynton
Seton LaSalle
South Side
Sto-Rox
Western Beaver
Class A (24 teams)
Section 1
Bishop Canevin
Clairton
Greensburg Central Catholic
Imani Christian
Jeannette
Leechburg
Riverview
Springdale
Section 2
Avella
Bentworth
California
Carmichaels
Jefferson-Morgan
Mapletown
Monessen
West Greene
Section 3
Burgettstown
Cornell
Fort Cherry
Northgate
OLSH
Rochester
Shenango
Union
