News

Coaches, ADs agree first year of new PIAA classification showed more positives than negatives

By Neil Geoghegan

first academic year using the PIAA’s expanded classification system recently ended. And even though we are only halfway through the initial two-year experiment, some interesting impressions have already formed.

“Change is always difficult and sometimes it takes a while to accept things,” said West Chester Henderson Athletic Director Ken McCormick. “In five or 10 years from now, most won’t even know we did this.”

What is ‘this?’ Well, in October of 2015, after 10 months of debate, the PIAA Board of Directors voted to expand the district and state playoff classifications for a total of 11 sports starting with the 2016-17 season. Football, boys’ and girls’ basketball, baseball and softball was increased from four to six classes. Boys’ and girls’ soccer and volleyball was expanded to four, field hockey to three, and boys’ and girls’ lacrosse to two.

The primary stated goals for the change were twofold: to create a more even playing field, and to give more teams an opportunity to participate in the postseason.

“One of the goals was to give teams more of an opportunity, which it certainly did,” said Chris Lunardi, the athletic director at West Chester Rustin.

It also addressed some of the enrollment inequities, according to Lunardi. For example, the previous 4A classification for District 1 football, he pointed out, included Rustin – which has an enrollment of just over 1,200 – to North Penn, with over 3,000.

(click on this link for the full article)

A note on archived articles

By Havenfootball.net Staff

Just a quick note to our readers about the articles that appear on our web page.  Our home page, the one you are viewing now, can only accommodate a fixed amount of “posts”.  As the season gets more involved the articles will appear, move down the page, and then vanish from the home page.  All posts, however, are stored in our archives.  At the bottom right hand side of this home page is our Archives listing.  It is listed by month.  Simply click on the month you believe the article originally appeared and a list of the articles posted will appear along with the first few lines.  Click on the headline and you’ll get the article, photos and appropriate links.  Enjoy!