Put district 10 teams in the wpial

[Hausmann1978]

With the wpial only have a few 6A teams it would add 3 more. Plus Erie prep is the only 5A school in district 10. They had a month off before playing pine Richland in the western semi finals (which I think cost them the game and really hurt them.) Let them go through the grind of the wpial. It benefits both district 10 and 7.

 

[2020sports]

With the wpial only have a few 6A teams it would add 3 more. Plus Erie prep is the only 5A school in district 10. They had a month off before playing pine Richland in the western semi finals (which I think cost them the game and really hurt them.) Let them go through the grind of the wpial. It benefits both district 10 and 7.

agree on ECP- they have been knocked out twice cuz they were not as battle-tested, less game-shape than PR

ok, 10 and 7 combined might help but here's my 2 cents-

The problem is, as i wrote in a previous thread, is yes it might "help some teams" but i think a lot of teams don't care- lots of small towns dont care about state championships, they would say "no thanks." Unless of course PIAA gives no choice- then maybe more schools might "opt-out"

Here's an option- maybe the PIAA "redistricts" regions, based upon population, rather than geography- that way numbers of schools in post-season would be more even, with # of schools. Then- by choice, HS could choose to "opt out" of post-season, BEFORE the season, if they did not want to travel 90 miles for a playoff game. This might not eliminate, but would reduce the # of "forfeit open games" in playoffs

 

[aerogenes]

Erie Cathedral Prep could simply ask to transfer to the WPIAL. It seems likely to be accepted by both district 10 and 7. Erie McDowell was a member of the WPIAL for 6 years, 2006-2011. BTW Prep has a really good team. I was at the Pine-Richland/Prep quarterfinal and it was a fantastic football game.

 

[Hausmann1978]

Erie Cathedral Prep could simply ask to transfer to the WPIAL. It seems likely to be accepted by both district 10 and 7. Erie McDowell was a member of the WPIAL for 6 years, 2006-2011. BTW Prep has a really good team. I was at the Pine-Richland/Prep quarterfinal and it was a fantastic football game.

ECP might be better next year. Thier QB and running back is back plus thier best lineman ( has offers Wisconsin, Toledo, ect.. and one of their best dbs dj roberts returns. They'll be right in the mix next year. Pittsburgh and Erie are close enough that they need to combine d10 and the wpial. Teams shouldn't be able to opt out. Unless they are short players do to injuries. What life lessons are these coaches teaching thier players. When life gets tough just opt out.

 

[2020sports]

Haus- sorry, I do not think WPIAL would welcome a 5A merger for playoffs, we have plenty of schools, and local school boards are not gonna want to increase the chance of traveling 80 miles for a "first round playoff game" in Erie- unlikely wpial would approve that. The problem with "life getting tough" is the idea of schools paying for bussing to travel to Erie, when if it were not for ECP, then it would be a local opponent 5-10 miles away. there are plenty of 5A schools in WPIAL, and might be even more in the next few years. This idea of merging 6A makes sense, would be good for both districts- but 5A- to me, imo, it would benefit ECP, and be an unneeded travel burden for D7/wpial.

 

[BradlyPitt]

the WPIAl will merge 5A and 6A teams before they ever merge with district 10

 

[Hausmann1978]

the WPIAl will merge 5A and 6A teams before they ever merge with district 10

How do you know that?

 

[BradlyPitt]

How do you know that?

because the WPIAL gains nothing by playing with District 10

 

[2020sports]

because the WPIAL gains nothing by playing with District 10

BP- totally agreed- 3 main reasons- plenty of Western PA people have had to go to Erie for games to play Erie and its a pain, second- the deal with Butler and D10 is a thorn in the side of WPIAL and lastly, there are plenty of schools in WPIAL and some schools might have to travel 100 miles for in-season games and/or first-round playoff games- and some schools could have to go twice.

Bottom line, it would not be win-win... in the eyes of wpial it would be win-lose.

And 5A and 6A merger in WPIAL does not even help, it would cause big schools to "play down" and it would enrage some 5A schools needing to play schools twice their size. Imo, the only way to make it work, is only a 6A merger, and only for "district title" maybe combing 2 or 3 districts to get maybe 10-15 schools at 6A level.