what are your thoughts on teams playing up in class?

[BradlyPitt]

when a team has say 3A enrollment but plays in 4A or 5A, do you respect this or is it dumb?

what are the good reasons for doing this? I remember Aliquippa said they played in 3A while having 1A enrollment because they didn't want to lose their games with neighboring rivals like Beaver Falls, and they were able to compete with anybody in 3A

Woodland Hills has 3A enrollment but played up in 5A, and they missed the playoffs so can anybody argue that was a smart decision? I think they could've won the 3A title, so this was arguably dumb decision by the school, but was it a respectable decision too by arguably challenging themselves?

 

[2020sports]

good topic and good question- the "reasons" for playing up are no always obvious

 

[2020sports]

imo Woodland Hills would not have "won" 3A or 4A in wpial D7

 

[northalleghenytiger]

I usual respect a school’s decision to play up. Woodland Hills has such a great history and was a powerhouse really up until 2015, which was Miles sanders senior year and I think maybe Novaks last year. If they “played their enrollment” at 3A, they would be a top team sure, but it just wouldn’t be the same. Also it would destroy the rivalry they have with Penn hills

I also kind of cringe when belle vernon won last year in 3A. If you remember in 2021, they were the #1 seed in 4A and lost by 8 points to Aliquippa. Then, the next year they “move down” and win states. It kinda felt like a cop out to me. This also applies to another school that will not be named

I made a post about a month ago about butlers idea of “playing down” which obviously I hated. It’s such a bad look

 

[2020sports]

tiger- pretty sure you're criticizing PR as "another school?" that's a "bad look" by you

 

[DripDrop]

Could you imagine if Aliquippa played at their enrollment at single A?

 

[2020sports]

Could you imagine if Aliquippa played at their enrollment at single A?

that would not and could not have happened in the last 5 years, not allowed

 

[BradlyPitt]

imo Woodland Hills would not have "won" 3A or 4A in wpial D7

I think they could beat Belle Vernon, at the very least they would've made the semifinals which i would think they would prefer over missing the 5A playoffs

 

[BradlyPitt]

I usual respect a school’s decision to play up. Woodland Hills has such a great history and was a powerhouse really up until 2015, which was Miles sanders senior year and I think maybe Novaks last year. If they “played their enrollment” at 3A, they would be a top team sure, but it just wouldn’t be the same. Also it would destroy the rivalry they have with Penn hills

I also kind of cringe when belle vernon won last year in 3A. If you remember in 2021, they were the #1 seed in 4A and lost by 8 points to Aliquippa. Then, the next year they “move down” and win states. It kinda felt like a cop out to me. This also applies to another school that will not be named

I made a post about a month ago about butlers idea of “playing down” which obviously I hated. It’s such a bad look

NA no longer plays North Hills, Upper St. Clair and Mt. Lebanon went years without playing each other

if those schools didn't play it would be fine for Penn Hills to not play Woodland Hills, plus they can still play each other week 1 when teams schedule their own games, or they can request to play each other like how PR requested to still play NA and Central when they dropped to 5A

i agree it looks like a cop out, but a title in a lower class is better than a playoff appearance in a higher class right?

 

[BradlyPitt]

Could you imagine if Aliquippa played at their enrollment at single A?

Mike Zmijanic their former coach said it would've been too easy for them, but Clairton had it's share of teams that would've beaten them back in those days

 

[RCH13co18]

@bradleypitt Most of the teams you despise play up in classification. I know you know but what’s your take on that ?

 

[BradlyPitt]

@bradleypitt Most of the teams you despise play up in classification. I know you know but what’s your take on that ?

what teams do I "despise" that play up? name them

 

[steelcurtain55.]

when a team has say 3A enrollment but plays in 4A or 5A, do you respect this or is it dumb?

what are the good reasons for doing this? I remember Aliquippa said they played in 3A while having 1A enrollment because they didn't want to lose their games with neighboring rivals like Beaver Falls, and they were able to compete with anybody in 3A

Woodland Hills has 3A enrollment but played up in 5A, and they missed the playoffs so can anybody argue that was a smart decision? I think they could've won the 3A title, so this was arguably dumb decision by the school, but was it a respectable decision too by arguably challenging themselves?

Woody High will more then likely be 5A next year. They have to count 50% of all of their cyber/charter/alt ed students. From what I was told, that did not happen in the last go around.

 

[2020sports]

Woody High will more then likely be 5A next year. They have to count 50% of all of their cyber/charter/alt ed students. From what I was told, that did not happen in the last go around.

"the reasons" for playing up are no always obvious" this is my point- WH prob knew this was gonna happen

Woody High will more then likely be 5A next year. They have to count 50% of all of their cyber/charter/alt ed students. From what I was told, that did not happen in the last go around.

 

[2020sports]

people are stupid who think teams that play up are "tougher or better"

 

[new2pa]

The play up thing targets the wrong schools. But I always wondered why people didn’t complain about the TJ, West A, CV, Clairton’s of the world. They have won a lot more than the people talked about recently like P-R, etc. Play where your enrollment puts you. If you wanna play up, fine.

 

[2020sports]

no one should be "complaining" cuz it's stupid, many other more interesting topics

 

[BradlyPitt]

The play up thing targets the wrong schools. But I always wondered why people didn’t complain about the TJ, West A, CV, Clairton’s of the world. They have won a lot more than the people talked about recently like P-R, etc. Play where your enrollment puts you. If you wanna play up, fine.

a lot of people said they should play up, at least when they were regularly winning championships

I remember back in 2011 when Clairton had probably their best team people were saying they could beat a good AAA team, if you think you can beat the bigger schools prove it on the field

same thing with Southern Columbia in 2019, they said they would beat all the big schools except SJP, yet they still play in little 2A

small dogs barking at the big dogs

 

[northalleghenytiger]

NA no longer plays North Hills, Upper St. Clair and Mt. Lebanon went years without playing each other

if those schools didn't play it would be fine for Penn Hills to not play Woodland Hills, plus they can still play each other week 1 when teams schedule their own games, or they can request to play each other like how PR requested to still play NA and Central when they dropped to 5A

i agree it looks like a cop out, but a title in a lower class is better than a playoff appearance in a higher class right?

Yeah I guess from a school’s perspective a championship looks good, regardless which class their doing it in. But I think a kid like quinton martin would like another chance to get revenge on Aliquippa, he was very close the first time around

 

[2020sports]

Yeah I guess from a school’s perspective a championship looks good, regardless which class their doing it in. But I think a kid like quinton martin would like another chance to get revenge on Aliquippa, he was very close the first time around

winning chips at ANY level is impressive, im sure Martin does not care "who" he beats

 

[BradlyPitt]

Yeah I guess from a school’s perspective a championship looks good, regardless which class their doing it in. But I think a kid like quinton martin would like another chance to get revenge on Aliquippa, he was very close the first time around

no chance they would've gotten "revenge", and that 2021 game wasn't as close as the score indicated it was a complete mismatch