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Change is the only constant in high school football

By Chris Dugan sports Editor dugan@observer-Reporter.Com 5 min read
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Go ahead, admit it.

You’ve been a fan of high school football for years and finally started to get used to Pennsylvania’s six-classification system.

You knew that there were two Class 6A conferences in the WPIAL.

You knew that Peters Township and Bethel Park each were in Class 6A, McGuffey was in Class 3A, Chartiers-Houston and Bentworth were in Class 2A and Fort Cherry and Carmichaels were in Class A.

You figured out that Canon-McMillan played in the Southeastern Conference, Trinity in the Big Nine, Washington in the Century Conference and that the Interstate Conference was a league in Class 3A.

You knew that some of the oldest and best rivalries in the area included Bethel Park-Mt. Lebanon and Carmichaels-Jefferson-Morgan.

So, just as you finally figured out who played in which conference and in which classification, the PIAA came along last winter and changed everything.

It’s called realignment. It happens every two years and it makes you scramble to figure out who and where your favorite team is playing.

That’s where we come in. For the 41st consecutive year, we are giving you a head start on what you need to know about high school football, along with a glimpse of the local colleges and Pittsburgh Steelers with the Observer-Reporter and The Almanac’s Football Edition.

Here are a few things you need to know as the start of the high school football season draws near:

Realignment

The PIAA-mandated realignment has more local schools dropping down in classification than moving up, which should give teams better chances for a successful season.

One of the biggest shakeups is in Class 6A, which has been cut from two conferences to one nine-team league. Six of the nine teams will advance to the postseason. Bethel Park and Peters Township have dropped from 6A to 5A and will play in the Allegheny Eight Conference with Upper St. Clair and Chartiers Valley, which makes for some natural rivalries. The conference is difficult as it also includes traditional power Woodland Hills and West Allegheny.

There was some streamlining in Class 4A as the Northwest Nine and Big Nine have become the Northwest Eight and Big East.

McGuffey, which has a history of bouncing between Class 3A and 2A, has dropped to the latter this year and is in a conference with Washington County rivals Washington, Charleroi and Beth-Center. McGuffey is not the only new team in the conference. Carmichaels, after playing in the Tri-County South for, well, forever, moves up to Double-A.

One team leaving the local 2A league is Burgettstown, which slides into the Three Rivers Conference, which includes five schools from Allegheny County and one from Beaver County. Fort Cherry, just like Carmichaels, moves up a classification and will join Burgettstown in the Three Rivers.

The Tri-County South, which lost Carmichaels and Fort Cherry, adds Bentworth and Chartiers-Houston, two teams that drop from 2A.

Streaking

Two of the area’s most successful programs, Washington and South Fayette, will begin 2018 riding impressive regular-season winning streaks.

Washington, the defending WPIAL Class AA champion, has won 38 consecutive regular-season games. The Prexies have not lost in the regular season since a 47-22 setback against Mt. Pleasant Oct. 11, 2013.

South Fayette, meanwhile, is riding a 57-game winning streak in the regular season. The Lions have not lost before the postseason since a 33-10 loss to Seton-La Salle Oct. 21, 2011.

The Lions’ streak will get perhaps its biggest test when they open the season Friday at Upper St. Clair.

Rivalries lost, renewed

Among the collateral damage from the realignment are a few long-standing rivalries. Carmichaels and Jefferson-Morgan, neighboring rivals in Greene County, will not play for the first time since 1977, when a teachers’ strike caused the game to be canceled. This year will be the first time since 1924 that the Mikes and Rockets have not been scheduled to meet.

Another casualty of the realignment is the Bethel Park-Mt. Lebanon series, which has long been a game among two of the top teams in the WPIAL’s largest classification.

A plus is that Bethel Park will resume its Rt. 19 rivalry with Upper St. Clair following a brief hiatus.

New coaches

Ringgold made the biggest noise in the offseason when it hired former Aliquippa head coach Mike Zmijanac to replace Nick Milchovich, who resigned after the 2017 season.

The Zmijanac hire is considered a coup for Ringgold. He coached Aliquippa for 21 seasons and won 237 games including six WPIAL championships.

Zmijanac is one of two new head coaches in the area. Lance Getsy at Charleroi replaces Donnie Militzer following the Cougars’ 9-2 season that saw them qualify for the Class 2A playoffs.

At Waynesburg, Chad Coss finished 2017 as the Raiders’ interim head coach. The interim tag has since been removed from his title.

What’s in a name?

You know all about the Tri-County South but what about the Tri-County West?

That’s the name of the new far-flung Class 3A conference that includes Waynesburg and a bunch of schools located two counties away from the Raiders. Waynesburg was placed in a league with defending state champion Quaker Valley, traditional powerhouse Aliquippa and strong programs like Beaver Falls, Central Valley, Hopewell and South Park.

With Class 6A trimmed from two conferences to one, gone are the Southeastern and the Northern Seven, and in its place is the Quad County Conference, which includes Canon-McMillan and Mt. Lebanon.

The Class 2A Century Conference, which dates back to 1971, is no more. The new name is the Interstate Conference, which last year was the name of the Class 3A conference that included Waynesburg.

Confused?

You won’t be after reading this edition.

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