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WPIAL realignment reunites old rivals

By Eleanor Bailey almanac Sports Editor ebailey@thealmanac.Net 5 min read
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After the PIAA revised its high school population numbers, the WPIAL used geography to realign its football league for the sports year that begins in the fall of 2018.

That meant when Bethel Park and Peters Township dropped down a classification, their teams would be reunited with some old acquaintances. The Hawks and Indians will again face archrivals Upper St. Clair and Baldwin on the gridiron.

While Mt. Lebanon remains at the 6A level, competing in one section with eight other schools with male populations over 564 students, the Blue Devils’ former foes will compete in Section 1 in Class 5A. In addition to Baldwin and USC, the league features Chartiers Valley, Moon, West Allegheny and Woodland Hills. There are two other sections in Class 5A for a total of 24 teams.

“In a perfect world, we’d still like to play Lebo but we are definitely excited,” PT coach T.J. Plack said. “USC is just down the road. We’ve been playing Bethel for the past couple of years and Baldwin when we were in Quad-A along with Woodland Hills. We are also familiar with Char Valley. So we’ve played them all with the exception of West A and Moon, which are new. It’s going to be good competition because those are good programs.”

BP skipper Jeff Metheny agreed.

“It’s a good league with good football coaches,” he said. “You have to be sound and good to win this conference. It’s going to be very competitive, and it’s going to be good playing St. Clair again. We’ve missed that but the down side is we’ve lost Lebo.”

One important upside is expense. BP and PT will no longer have to travel to Altoona, which formerly competed in the WPIAL and in its largest classification. Nor will the teams have to trek to Norwin or Hempfield.

“This is good for high school sports, not just for the rivalries, but for the costs of things like busing,” said Metheny, whose longest trip in the league would be to Moon Area. “It’s good for high school football for sure.”

Metheny noted how the Hawks have strong rivalries with other schools in a variety of sports like baseball, soccer, basketball, volleyball and softball, and football will only enhance those relationships. BP shares fierce enmity with USC and Baldwin, as many of the homes in the community share borders. Additionally, there are close personal ties to the opposing towns.

“We have a lot of kids whose parents went to Baldwin and teachers who are from Baldwin,” Metheny said. “So there are natural rivalries.”

PT is in a similar situation, as many USC graduates have migrated into the Washington County school district.

The Indians, who were 7-4 last season, return both sides of the line intact, with only one departure due to graduation. The secondary is also intact. Plus, the Indians return two all-conference running backs along with a veteran receiving corps.

“That’s the No. 1 area we have to address and defensively, we have to replace our linebackers,” said Plack. “But, we like what we have coming back and we plan on being competitive.”

The Hawks’ plans are similar, but their task is daunting. They graduate many pieces that enabled the team to win a conference championship in 2017.

“We are just so young. We are replacing everyone,” Metheny said of his 8-2 club. “We’ll have to grow up fast and it will take a while to get experience. That doesn’t help in this league but that’s how it goes.”

Championships and consistency go hand-in-hand, Plack said, and that is what he is striving for as he endeavors to coach his young Indians in a league that has produced a plethora of WPIAL titles. USC owns five under Render, as well as two state championships. West A has a record eight district titles and one PIAA win under Bob Palko, who is in his final season at the helm. Woodland Hills also owns five district banners.

“We can be competitive in this league and we are excited for the new challenge,” Plack said. “We want to be a consistent program. That’s what the USC and West A programs already have. They are able to bring it week in and week out. We’d like to be a program like those schools.”

Regardless of classification, Seton-La Salle already is a consistent program. The Rebels own four WPIAL championships. They won a conference championship last fall and finished 9-2 overall after losing to eventual district and state champion, Quaker Valley, in the WPIAL finals.

Because of their enrollment numbers, the Rebels drop from Class AAA to AA and will be grouped in Section 4 with Brentwood, Burgettstown, Carlynton, Fort Cherry, Serra Catholic, South Allegheny and South Side Beaver.

While Rob Carter said the school will miss competing against the teams in Class AAA, the Rebels are playing where they belong. Plus, travel time has been reduced considerably since SLS will not have to journey to Valley, Burrell, Apollo-Ridge, Deer Lakes or Freeport.

“One thing I am happy about is playing more local teams. This will be nice for the Rebel faithful to attend all our games,” Carter said.

He added since SLS is familiar with most of the teams in the conference, the Rebels expect the conference to be highly competitive.

“All the conference teams have good coaches and will be well prepared for when we play them. We just hope to compete for a conference title and playoff spot.”

As far as South Fayette is concerned nothing much has changed. Quad-A consists of 16 teams, and the Lions will be in Section 1 with seven similar opponents. The lone change is that Beaver has moved into the classification and Mars Area has moved to Section 3.

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