Doing some rough back of the envelop math - if you're separating football, I think the sensible split is remain at six classes - four boundary classes, two non-boundary classes. When splitting these, I left District 12 schools subject to the school selection process (lottery based, with or without criteria, like Northeast or George Washington) with the public schools, while schools that have control over their admissions process (charters, Catholic schools, etc.) separated into the two non-boundary classifications. I did not include the Inter-Ac schools, though I think if there is a separation of public/privates for team championships, overtures to the Inter-Ac schools to compete in PIAA non-boundary postseason would make sense. Anyway, here's how I see it splitting (I think I got all of the football playing schools):
Big School Non-Boudary
Lasalle, SJP, Father Judge, Pickett Mastery Charter, Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Roman Catholic, Boys Latin, Bonner-Prendergrat, Cardinal O'Hara, Bishop Shanahan, Archbishop Ryan, Pope John Paul II, Bishop McDevitt, North Catholic, Archbishop Wood, Erie Cathedral Prep, Imhotep Charter, Simon Gratz, Conwell-Egan, Scranton Prep, Notre Dame (GP), Berks Catholic, Archbishop Carroll, Allentown Central Catholic
Small School Non-Boundary
Neuman-Goretti, Shady Side Academy, Bethlehem Catholic, KIPP DuBois Collegiate, Lancaster Catholic, West Catholic, Executive Education Charter, Holy Redeemer, Mercyhurst Prep, Bishop McCourt, York Catholic, Belmont charter, Delone Catholic, Reinaissance Academy Charter, Imani Christian, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Marian Catholic, Greensburg Central Catholic, Bishop Guilfoyle, Nativity BVM, Bishop Canevin, Serra Catholic, Elk County Catholic, Nazareth Prep, Kennedy Catholic
Logistically impossible?
I also agree with whoever above said that splitting District 1 in 6A would be a good idea to balance out brackets. In general, I think more flexibilty as we've moved to 6 classes in how counties are disbursed in the postseason would make sense. In 5A, the eastern part of the state is 5 schools in D2, 4 schools in D11, then 27 schools in D1 and 25 in D3. It's a silly way to allocate playoff spots. Having District 12 split into a six team playoff and a two team playoff, with the winner's meeting in a final, is a silly set-up. Ohio balanced regions by the number of teams, which shift every year as classifications numbers shift (so teams on borders, like Quakertown or Pennridge in PA, often shift where they are in a postseason bracket as the number of teams in a class change) and their brackets seem to make a lot more sense. But nobody is putting me in charge.
