Are you ready for some football?
Welcome to the official forum on high school football for the 2026 season.
During the off-season let’s talk about players, recruiting news, teams, and everything about high school football.
During the season each week let’s talk about match-ups and how teams did. Let us know what player(s) stood out each week.
1,659 Responses
Let’s light this fire again…….compliments from Alabama……
I actually liked the Alabama multiplier factor method as for something that could be tried in PA as a middle ground between the current completion formula (which I am now ready to scrap entirely) and the separation of you know who for playoffs.
https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/sports/high-school/2026/01/23/ahsaa-public-private-schools-to-split-for-postseason-play/88285444007/
David, Have you or anyone seen the AAA state Playoff Bracket for next year? (2026-2027) Who would D2 play first round? second round? etc
Not yet. I will take a look and see if its out yet
Anyone know of any realignment/conference/division changes in District 1 for 2026? Thanks
I believe in the SOL, Plymouth Whitemarsh moves up a conference and Truman moves down. Conference crossovers have dropped from two to only one, which is why we see all the newly added out of league games.
Thanks!
D2’s schedule for the cycles have been released to the public. A few interesting games, but I feel there are less D2/4 crossovers this year
I’ll go by Division, featuring the non-league games & notable in-league crossovers
LFC 1
– Abington Heights has ACC, a trip to Florida, & Dallas.
– DV does something abnormal for them: They play in three EPC games, playing Becahi, Northampton, & ES South. This is the kind of schedule they should play, to be fair.
– North Pocono plays Berwick & Wilkes-Barre
– Scranton gets PM West, Emmaus, & a Week 6 crossover against Valley West.
– Scranton Prep returns to Maryland to play Loyola Blakefield, but welcome in Trinity (Camp Hill), & Fairfield Prep (CT). Outside of Sem, when was the last time someone played a team from CT in this state?
– Valley View gets Northwestern Lehigh, Crestwood, & Wilkes-Barre.
– Wallenpaupack only has one non-D2 game this cycle: ES South, but do get both Wayne County rivals in between, which is refreshing
– West Scranton plays Hazleton & WVW, but also gets Carbondale.
LFC 2
– Dunmore plays Wyoming Area & Lake-Lehman in non-LFC games. They’ll get Trail in league play
– Honesdale plays ES North & Crestwood in non-league, as well as C’dale. Of course, the Pike-Wayne Shrine Bowl remains on the schedule
– Lakeland plays Lake-Lehman in Week 3 as their lone non-LFC game
– Mid Valley plays L-L, Tunk, & Wyoming Area, as well as Trail & Old Forge
– Riverside just plays Lake-Lehman in non-league, but do get Trail & continue their Triboro rivalry with Pizzatown.
– Western Wayne plays Holy Redeemer & Wyoming Area, but also plays Trail, Old Forge, & Wallenpaupack
LFC 3
– C’dale gets Nanticoke & Crestwood. As mentioned earlier, West Scranton will be an interesting non-division game, as well as Honesdale
– Holy Cross gets CMVT & their rivals of Holy Redeemer
– Trail plays an all-LFC schedule, playing all but Honesdale from Div. 2
– Montrose plays what feels like an indie schedule with Nativity, CMVT, Renaissance, Tunk, & Holy Redeemer
– Old Forge will play Pen Argyl & Tunk as their only non-LFC games, but also get rival Riverside, WW, & Mid Valley
– Susquehanna only plays Redeemer in non-league play
Apparently WVC is now 3 divisions of four, but I’ll post those later.
Here’s who the WVC teams get outside of division play. Meant three divisions of four than two divisions of six.
WVC 1
– Hazleton gets West Scranton, Billtown, & Pocono Mountain West early on, as well as Pottsville to end the season. Notable WVC / games include Berwick, Crestwood, & Dallas
– Pittston plays ES South in Week 1, but also gets Oxford out of D1 (never would’ve had them playing up here), while crossing over in Weeks 2 & 3 with Berwick, Hanover Area, & Dallas as non-division games. Oh, & of course Wyoming Area
– Wilkes-Barre gets the same teams as the last cycle: Whitehall, Stroudsburg, & Valley View. They also get North Pocono in LFC play. Berwick & Dallas also play on the schedule.
– WVW gets Williamsport & both Scranton schools, but also gets Hanover Area & GNA in a crossover division game.
WVC 2
– Berwick’s crossovers are North Pocono, Billtown, & Pottsville. Pittston, Wyo Area, WBA, & Hazleton round out a competitive non-league game.
– Crestwood gets Valley View, C’dale, & Honesdale. In league, they crossover with rival Hazleton, Wyo Area, & Pittston
– Dallas just gets Abington Heights in non-WVC. Pittston, WBA, & Hazleton are WVC 1 teams on the docket, but also the Old Shoe game, of course.
– Hanover Area (you read correctly) gets late season interleague games against Northwest & Shamokin, but play a mix of WVC 1 & 3 games, including the Sans Scouci Struggle & WVW
WVC 3
– L-L, as mentioned before has Mid Valley, Lakeland, Riverside, & Dunmore. They also play against Northwest Area. To end their season, it’s always the Old Shoe against Dallas.
– GNA has C’dale, Palmerton, Panther Valley, Holy Redeemer, & Northwest in interleague. They do get Hanover Area & WVW in their non-division games
– Tunkhannock plays Mid Valley, Old Forge, & the Bluestone rivals (Montrose & Susq.), but also gets a Week 5 date against Panther Valley & plays Redeemer in Week 8
– Wyoming Area plays Dunmore, Mid Valley, & Western Wayne. They did get Berwick, Crestwood, & end with Pittston in-league.
Holy Redeemer gets New Hope-Solebury, Nativity, Susq., WW, Pine Grove, Holy Cross (rival), GNA, Tunk, Montrose, & Midd-West
Looks like I might have to go LFC 1, LFC 2, LFC 3, WVC 1, WVC 2, WVC 3, LFC HM, WVC HM, D2 HM, & Subregional
Why on earth would the WVC choose this alignment and NOT have Wyoming Area in WVC2? Conference administrators need a serious logic check.
Guess we will get a look at most school schedules soon for next yr. Did see PJP opens with Lansdale Catholic a natural rivalry and both teams bring back good talent, follow that with Neumann- Gorretti,and then Rustin and Shanahan before their first yr in the Pac Liberty so definitely a tough schedule for the Panthers.
Phillyboy, Jax is 19 years old and has made the US Olympic team wrestling against 28 year old full grown men. Manhandling High School wrestlers this year will do nothing to improve his skillset. NCAA and Olympic Championships are his goals and he will get better immediately in Oklahoma State’s wrestling room. The plan right now is for him to redshirt, he can wrestle unattached in college tourney’s and it will not affect his redshirt, the question is, does Coach David Taylor pull Jax’s redshirt if he thinks he can win the NCAA’S this year which he is capable of. We shall see.
phillyboy, it’s happening all across the board in almost every sport, if you want to have a chance of playing next year in football, you need to be enrolled in January classes, so you can go through off season conditioning/coaching, be available for spring practice. You can’t graduate in June, show up on Campus in July and expect to be playing in August anymore. I know of a Field Hockey player who graduated in December so she can start with her college team in January, so hopefully be in a position to play/start in August.
Speaking of PA high school wrestling I saw somewhere recently that Jax Forrest, the prodigy from Bishop McCort is going to be graduating early and enroll early at Oklahoma State in January. I don’t know, I have mixed feelings about that. I get it that he’s basically overqualified for the high school circuit at this point, having recently competed in the senior world championships and all. But on the other hand he could just enjoy his senior year and be on cruise control, help his team vie for a national #1 ranking, beat Faith Christian in the state dual meet team title and take it from there. What do you guys think, some of these youngsters over move, there’s a tendency to want to make things better. Maybe the better move though is to just stand pat and absorb the fleeting,
super sweet situation you’re in. Quin Ewers is another high profile kid that skipped his entire senior year, from an awesome public program that would have been a serious candidate to take the Texas big school football state title had he stayed. Locally, a few years ago there was a highly regarded RB from I think Pennridge that transferred to IMG. In chess you don’t want to necessarily whip out your queen just because you can, sometimes it’s better to be patient and methodical.
The Bishop mccort situation is a bad situation that makes the piaa look corrupt. What jax forrest is doing is as wrong as anything I’ve seen but I expect it from mccort. Forest is from North Carolina originally. His family only went there because of wrestling. The program itself and all it’s coaches were just aau coaches who recruited the best of the best in. They have no love for there school or community because none of them are from there. The Bassett father started this and it will only last as long as his kids are there. He may even bail on the youngest if he can follow his son to Virginia tech which I think he will. I’ve seen kids like tyler kasak not wrestle there senior years so they can train at psu but it’s crazy to wrestle a few matches and ditch your teammates mid season. But he’s been ditching teammates his whole life why would this change. I would never suggest anyone to leave high school early. There the best years of your life, the parents are disgraceful for allowing it to happen. And just like bo Bassett I wonder does jax forrest parents stay to watch there younger less talented kids wrestle and finish high school or do they chase around the older more talented kids. Within a few years mccort will be nothing again. Watch.
JC, I believe the Jax Forrest plan worked out quit well. He is David Taylor’s protoge who wanted him to graduate early. With NIL I am sure Jax will be getting paid millions of dollars before he even graduates college. Crushing HS kids after making the Olympic team makes no sense for him to stay. He’s also 19 years old. Most sophomores in college are 19 Not every kid likes High School and for some it is an extremely painful experience.
Lol you don’t become 19 and a senior unless you were held back. Cmon and realized he didn’t need to be held back and he’s gone. Yes a 19 yr old with a million dollars should be just what the doctor ordered.
I wouldn’t be calling it graduating early. He is 19 correct? Could be in his second year of college technically since a lot of students graduate at 17 or 18.
JC, I believe it is age based and depends on Birthdates. Many of the southern schools, Florida, Texas, Alabama you can compete at 19, not so in Penna, where it is 18, don’t know this kid, but age wise he could easily fit into the Penna group for age, last year.
Well thank God someone that didn’t know the answer answered it wrong anyway. It doesn’t go by age. Your only allowed 4 years of eligibility 9th thru 12 th grade. Sometimes its better to sit and not say a word and appear stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Can anyone answer this question? Faith Christian academy has a freshman wrestling for them this year who wrestled in Florida last year apparently as an 8th grader in varsity matches. Apparently this kid wrestled in a tournament last year in Pennsylvania in January for his school in Florida against high school aged kids in pa. Is it legal for piaa kids to play varsity sports against non 9th thru 12th graders? Is this kid going to be ineligible as a senior because he wrestler varsity matches in Pa as an 8th grader? The pa kids who wrestled him last year is there anything that can happen to them? This isnt Wyoming seminary, it’s faith Christian academy. Look up the bacon kid on pa wrestling. He’s a freshman who wrestled some of the best pa wrestlers in a January in season tournament as an 8th grader
I don’t know how rules have evolved. I remember when Apple Valley (Minnesota) came to Easton to wrestle in the NHSCA Final Four years ago (2004?) they had a 103 who was in 8th grade, and under PIAA rules, he could not wrestle against Easton (he wrestled against Blair and St Paris Graham that day because they were non-Pennsylvania teams). Apple Valley had to forfeit the weight in that dual. That rule may have changed if they let Bacon wrestle in Coal Cracker last year when he was at high school in Florida. Or maybe no one was paying attention? Also, I have no idea how AJ Gomez had to sit out last here as an athletic transfer from Bangor (8th) to Bethlehem Catholic (9th), but Bacon from Florida to Faith Christian Academy passes muster.
I know when Mark Hall was in high school, his dad moved him around the country to try and set a national record for state titles – Kentucky allowed 6th graders to wrestle varsity, so they went there first before moving (ironically) to Apple Valley for 7th grade (I think he was from Michigan originally). Pennsylvania has never been on the junior high/varsity train. Heck, famously in Easton, state finalists Chico Lutes, Brad Weaver, and Rocky Creazzo all weren’t allowed to wrestle varsity as a freshman (when all three would have been state title contenders) because Easton High School was a 10-12 building, and the old PIAA rule was that varsity athletes had to be students in the high school building. So I guess we’ve come a long way.
My next question would be, how could bishop mccort be banned from the piaa for two years for violating piaa rules regarding recruiting and come back and field a team that is basically a non pennsylvania roster and nothing gets done
It makes the piaa look like a bigger joke than it already is
Then here is what I have on defense.
DL: Ashton Blatt, Pittsburgh Central Catholic (Sr. 6’2 235; North Carolina): 57 tackles, 22.5 TFLs, 15.5 sacks, 2 FF
DL: Abe Sesay, Downingtown East (Jr. 6’5 220): 80 tackles, 13 sacks
DL: John Isaac Lewis, Harrisburg (Jr. 6’2 215): 40 tackles, 25.5 TFLs, 13.5 sacks
DL: Algee Macon, Easton (Sr. 6’2 225): 57 tackles, 17 TFLs, 8.5 sacks, FF
DL: Lincoln Hoke, North Allegheny (Sr. 6’2 260; Pittsburgh): 80 tackles, 12 TFLs, 7 sacks, 4 FF, 2 blocks
LB: Roman Thompson, Pittsburgh Central Catholic (Jr. 6’0 210): 114 tackles, 12 TFLs, 4.5 sacks/29 TDs
LB: EJ Brownback, Wilson West Lawn (Jr. 6’0 215): 117 tackles, 21 TFLs, 4 sacks
LB: Terry Wiggins, Coatesville (Sr. 6’4 205; Virginia Tech): 94 tackles, 14 TFLs, 4 sacks
LB: Noah Ewell, Harrisburg (Sr. 5’10 220): 113 tackles, 17 TFLs, 6.5 sacks, 4 FF, INT
LB: Ryan Rowe, Pennridge (Sr. 6’1 215): 111 tackles, 7.5 TFLs, 1.5 sacks, 2 INTs,
DB: Sean McPeek, Easton (Jr. 6’4 215; Lafayette – lacrosse): 52 tackles, 3 TFLs, 6 INTs (4 TD IR)
DB: Marquez Wimberly, Nazareth (Sr. 5’10 195; Sacramento State): 58 tackles, 2 FF, INT/199 carries, 1,739 yards, 23 TDs/22 catches, 279 yards, 3 TDs
DB: Zach Gleason, Pittsburgh Central Catholic (Jr. 6’0 175): 43 tackles, 4 TFLs, sack, 3 INTs
DB: AJ Fry, State College (Jr. 6’2 190): 43 tackles, 7 INTs
DB: Treyvon Gembitski, Wilkes-Barre (Sr. 5’11 170): 73 tackles, 4 TFLs, 5 INTs, 3 FF
ATH: Matt Gregory, Owen J. Roberts (Jr. 6’2 175)
ATH: Joey O’Brien, LaSalle (Sr. 6’4 195; Notre Dame): 49 tackles, 4 INTs, 2 FF, TD IR/86 catches, 1,247 yards, 18 TDs
For years, I’ve tried to project the 6A All State football team. As newspapers have cut back on expenses, it’s been harder and harder to get stat leaders from around the state, particularly on defense and particularly in District 1, but I’ve given it a shot for this year. There are a LOT of strong candidates this year, particularly on the defensive line and at wide receiver. The AP has shifted around how many they take at each position, and it’s not necessarily consistent from year-to-year. It’s averaged out to roughly five players per position – a long way from when there would be three total quarterbacks in 3A and 4A combined on the “Big School” team! Anyway, here’s what I’ve got, I think it’ll take multiple posts, so starting with the offense:
QB: Gavin Sidwar, LaSalle (Sr. 6’4 200; Missouri): 238-333, 3,370 yards, 40 TDs
QB: Cole Ordway, Easton (Sr. 6’0 180): 96-151, 1,402 yards, 17 TDs, 6 INTs/233 carries, 1,977 yards, 36 TDs
QB: Brooklyn Nace, Central York (Sr. 6’3 195; Old Dominion): 200-263, 2,793 yards, 36 TDs, 2 INTs
QB: Mike Eckhart, Neshaminy: 199-311, 2,586 yards, 32 TDs, 4 INTs/147 carries, 782 yards, 10 TDs
QB: Antonio Fontanez, Liberty (Sr. 6’1 180): 174-268, 2,827 yards, 38 TDs, 11 INTs
RB: Liam Taylor, Haverford (Sr. 5’10 190): 314 carries, 1,949 yards, 27 TDs
RB: D’Antae Sheffy, State College (Sr. 5’11 180): 234 carries, 1,613 yards, 24 TDs
RB: TJ Lawrence, Parkland (Jr. 5’11 205): 150 carries, 1,128 yards, 26 TDs
RB: Giovanni Rothrauff, Norwin (Jr. 5’10 205) : 263 carries, 1,577 yards, 9 TDs
RB: Juelz, Chiron-Robinson, Downingtown East (So. 5’10 165): 324 carries, 1,884 yards, 20 TDs
WR: Elias Coke, Harrisburg (Sr. 6’3 200; Rutgers): 79 catches, 1,101 yards, 13 TDs
WR: Jett Harrison, St. Joseph’s Prep (So. 6’1 175): 50 catches, 849 yards, 20 TDs
WR: Daryus Dixon, Manheim Township (Sr. 5’11 180): 61 catches, 1,138 yards, 16 TDs
WR: Jake Pukszyn, Liberty (Sr. 6’4 195; Lehigh): 55 catches, 906 yards, 15 TDS
WR: Owen Johnson, LaSalle (So. 5’11 180): 73 catches, 988 yards, 13 touchdowns/16 total TDs
TE: JP Oates, LaSalle (Sr. 6’3 225; Virginia Tech): 32 catches, 486 yards, 6 TDs
TE: Michael Glover, Wilson West Lawn (Jr. 6’3 220): 35 catches, 572 yards, 7 TDs
OL: Greyson McKeough, LaSalle (Sr. 6’8 295; Notre Dame)
OL: Matt Bowers, Pittsburgh Central Catholic (So. 6’4 290)
OL: Max Hiller, Coatesville (Jr. 6’5 310)
OL: Kevin Brown, Harrisburg (Sr. 6’5 290; West Virginia)
OL: Tyler Merrill, Cumberland Valley (Sr. 6’5 310; Notre Dame)
ATH: Matt Pownall, North Penn (Sr. 5’11 180; Navy): 215 carries, 1,344 yards, 15 TDs/37 catches, 571 yards, 8 TDs
ATH: Brendyn Smith, Central York (Sr. 5’10 160): 76 catches, 1,202 yard, 22 TDs/1,789 all purpose yards
The Silver Bowl used to hold 7,200 and now holds about 6,200 after the creature bleachers were torn down. Kemp Memorial in Shamokin also holds over 6k. I’ve been to many games at both with overflow crowds. If these championship game numbers are accurate, MCA gets more people at any random home game, and that’s with a severely declining population. That being said, I always thought these “paid” attendance numbers at the championship games were under reported. I also think Southern would bring a bigger crowd to the championship game if they weren’t there every year.
Are those attendance numbers real for state finals? If so, that’s really sad. I get it. It was cold and most elders would prefer to watch on TV. Overall, it’s still sad. 20 years ago I’ve seen about 3k, maybe 3.5k once at a district 11 final. About the same for a few MCA games.
Individual Championship game attendance numbers taken from the PIAA website’s game boxscores:
A Unknown (guessing the least attended)
2A 1,603
3A 1,804
4A 2,119
5A 1,891
6A 2,158
PA might want to consider the system California uses. Student population is not a factor. It is a combination of a power rating system that combines strength of schedule with an annual realigning (like Soccer in Europe ). Still has 5 Divisions, but all 5 divisions are filled with the best teams in the state from the start of district playoffs. For Example, a big public might make the Division 5 playoffs with a record of 5-6, rip off 5 playoff wins, beat a 15-0 small (but very good) private school in the state finals. Its not perfect, but you usually wind up having 10 outstanding teams in the finals of every division. The downside is a small school who plays an easy schedule might miss out on the playoffs altogether, even if they go undefeated during the regular season.
Dumbest take I’ve ever seen
This was kind of what I’ve been thinking for a way to align the PIAA in football. I feel like school size sometimes has its downfalls because there’s so many 5A/6A schools that can’t compete in that class & would be much better off in a small school class.
I may consider looking into setting up a theoretical two year cycle run using a similar system to see what teams could be promoted or relegated, using the Gimp Software rating system. The biggest difference is that I’d actually count out of state & non-PIAA games, which they don’t do.
The state football playoffs have been for the most part with some exception been played before small crowds with what seems like from TV not much atmosphere. I love high school football been following it most of my life but i think football might be the sport least suited to tournament play. Basketball is the the one sport that I couldnt imagine without a tournament the atmospheres are almost always great leading up to the finals but even those arent as good since they moved from the old Hershey Arena. Many factors play into it the weather turns nasty at times the location is a longgg way for many to travel. They wont ever do this but it might be kind of cool to move the championships around every few yrs. Let the East host it some yrs, West others.
Idk if you are old enough to remember playoff and championship games from the 90’s, but it wasn’t always like this.
Yep I do remember it was different in the 90s, be nice to see that return but just seems to be in rut of not alot of excitement around it except for the schools who are there and even they have to be somewhat dissappointed with the crowds/atmosphere.
If the number Bob Greenburg gave for total attendance is correct, that would put the A game at 1,146.
We are talking about competitive balance in football. Look no further than wrestling to see how pathetic the piaa is. Faith Christian academy is double aa. They have 1 wrestler who is from Florida, he wrestled in Florida last year. Why are these schools not banned from the piaa. Bishop mccorts best wrestler is from north Carolina, cmon
wait…do these kids still live in Florida or NC? neither school that I know of is a boarding school or did the families move here just for wrestling?
They have relocated to wrestle. Asher Bacon, the Florida kid at Faith Christian, was originally slated to go to the boarding school Wyoming Seminary. I think his family was relocating to PA be closer, and then determined they’d rather him wrestle for Faith Christian, so he’s currently in their lineup. I will give FCA this – outside of Bacon, and the ten minutes they had Tyler DeKraker (who I think is a four schools in four years in four states all star), their lineup is either from suburban Philadelphia or the Lehigh Valley.
At Bishop McCort on the other hand – the Forest brothers relocated from North Carolina, the Herring brothers relocated from Tennessee, Seamus Ragan relocated from South Carolina (he hasn’t been in the lineup this year, I think due to injury), Caleb Rodriguez is from Florida, Jackson Butler is from Georgia, Jerin Coles is from Montana (state champ and Super 32 medalist currently on their bench behind Melvin Miller and CJ Pensiero). McCort reminds me of Graham in Ohio, which for a long time had a star family (the Jordan brothers and cousins, much like the Bassett/Gibson/Miller family) and then ran summer camps for kids all over the country, and magically kids like David Taylor would move from Wyoming to tiny little St. Paris, Ohio to wrestle for the Graham Falcons (plus kids from within Ohio too), and they put together one of the best teams in the country, while wrestling Division II in Ohio. Kids are moving to Johnstown for the training opportunity with Bo Bassett, who was a celebrity wrestler in 8th grade. It will be interesting to see the sustainability of the program as the Bo, Keegan, and Melvin move onto college, and if they still draw talent that rivals what the boarding schools at Blair and Wyoming Seminary get, or if it wil fizzle when the family is gone.
Lol you will give them this, they get there wrestlers from suburban Philadelphia and the lehigh valley mainly? Lol lol well good for them. How are all these public schools allowing this to continue??? It only takes one school to say it doesn’t make sense to be in the piaa and get the ball rolling and put a stop to private schools. Bishop mccort should be banned from the piaa. They were banned for two years and came back and cheated worse than they did before
Couldn’t agree more, it’s an absolute joke that FCA is allowed to compete in AA. Honestly, with only two classes, I don’t see a reason why the PIAA wouldn’t either force all private schools up to AAA, or create a third private-only class.
Never has a double aa school in Pennsylvania been the best in the state of pa. We now have 2 private double aa schools who are the top two teams in the country. Bishop mccort was banned from competing for 2 years in wrestling and since then they have gotten worse. The piaa is totally disregarding anything these two schools do. The pathetic part is these schools choose to wrestle in the smallest class. It’s pathetic of the piaa, it’s pathetic for these school administrations and it’s pathetic for these coaches.
The best wrestling programs across the state are, mind you, like this — and the difference is that the juggernauts are not clustered around anywhere unlike football where you know PCL has most of the top talent and will come in like a threshing machine. Here, it’s connected to a couple really good coaches/programs that blow everyone else into the dust. And PA is uniquely good as a wrestling state.
I recently saw 8 of PA’s #1 ranked AA wrestlers are from either Faith Christian or Bishop McCort. I guess they just don’t care about fairness in dual meets anymore?
What?
Per Tweet from Bob Greenburg, sports reporter in the District 10 area:
“PIAA Football attendance for all 6 state final games was 10,721.”
Too many classes.
Pretty sad numbers. I would guess pretty much what you might expect, 1A the least and either 5A or 6A the most. Wouldn’t be surprised if 5A had the most since McDevitt is only like 20 mins away.
Just posted each game’s figs. I’ll assume the “A” game was least. 6A was the best. Pretty consistent numbers across the board.
Anyone want to take a guess at the best and least attended games??
I saw on Twitter yesterday that the QB from the Pennington School is transferring to Roman Catholic for his senior season. Holds multiple D1 offers already. I thought if you transfer after 9th grade, you are ineligible for playoffs for the following year. Wouldn’t make sense to transfer this late unless he is granted eligibility.
Great name for a QB!!!
Who knows why he is transferring. Many reasons someone transfers, not just for athletic purposes. Believe he is from Philly, so just coming home?? Yes, it depends on if the district deems him eligible for the post season or not.
Doubt he will be eligible for the playoffs. LaSalle had a stud linebacker from Imhotep transfer in for his Jr year this year. He had to sit out the playoffs.
There is a different group of kids every year. Why take away the opportunity from them? I guarantee if they moved up and won 3A, people would still complain. I saw some guys on another board saying that didn’t like watching the wing-T because it was too boring and of course that would never work in the higher classes.
Back in the day, MCA voluntarily played up to 3A because our coach thought we belonged with the big schools. So instead of possibly winning state titles, we were just “competitive” in 3A.
In the beginning of this year, I thought no way is SC winning it all this year. They went 7-5 last year, had no big names or D1 recruits and lost the first game of the year. I’m more impressed with how this years team won it all than any of their previous teams.
As I see it, the MAJOR problem with the “success” clause is that it UNFAIRLY targets the small schools. A successful 5A school can only get bumped one time and a 6A school, none at all. Let’s say that SCA chooses to move up to 3A and has success there. The PIAA would force them up to 4A. The Tigers have obviously had certain teams who could compete there…so long as they had no injuries. That’s the critical part of moving small schools up to the larger enrollment schools. An injury to a key player in a small school is much more difficult to overcome than with a big school. It’s really just simple math. I believe that coach Roth’s commitment is to his team, and not to the mere sentiments of other fans. I don’t think that Jim Roth wishes to put his future teams in the same position that Aliquippa finds itself in. If the PIAA FORCES them to move up, so be it. But he won’t have a hand in voluntarily making the mountain for upcoming teams steeper, more rocky and higher. JMHO.
for glenn and mca75, i believe you both make excellent points. as a d2 observer and a dunmore bucks follower i think so.columbia should compete against schools of the same size. why should they be (punished) for their success. as stated the kids change year to year. they should have a fair shot at success. and for a selfish reason, i want the team i’m rooting for to conquer the best. once again congratulation’s to coach roth and the tigers.
I am in agreement that they should not be forced to play higher than required. If I were SCA, I might consider 3A just to see if we could do it and to give the program an additional challenge, seeing as SCA has accomplished basically all there is to accomplish at the 2A level. But, it’s their prerogative and last year showed that they’re not invincible. Winning a state championship as a public school is hard no matter who you are.
Totally agree with everything you said.
@ Glenn & MCA75 – both of you guys make legitimate points and I respect your opinions. As a neutral observer who just wants to see competitive games I would like to see how SCA would do in 3A for a 2yr cycle, given they have won 2A 8 times in the last nine years. I have nothing at all against SCA and coach Jim Roth, obviously his record speaks for itself, we’ll likely never see another coach like him in the future in PA.
Well, another season has come & gone! My third full season of discussing D2 & the state has come to an end. It was quite a fun season!
I’ll admit. I wasn’t as in tune with the rest of the state this year, as I was before. However, I still enjoy following HS football across PA (& around the country). Now, I don’t have a career in it or ever would consider it, but I always have that passion for it. Maybe it’s because I went to a school that didn’t (& still doesn’t) have a good football history & isn’t really a program. I think that’s a good thing as although I still support my Alma Mater, even if I don’t go to the games, I do find myself respecting the programs in & out of the state.
I appreciate the support & compliments when it comes to the D2 notes & picks. I’m sure it’s a bit tiresome to scroll through large paragraphs of picks (wonder if I should spreadsheet it in the future), but I like making predictions & talking about the important games in the state, even if the teams aren’t juggernauts.
I’ve said it every year. I’m probably half the age of a majority of the people on here, but I feel like I know a lot & have learned a lot, though still have more to learn. I don’t analyze like analysts do. I never played the game. I go off of the lens of a fan who’s following along, some places in more casual fashion than others. What I see. What I feel in my gut when it comes to making predictions. I follow all the local papers, sports sites, & websites like this to get to know the state of the sport. I’m curious to know whether traditional powerhouses are good or down. I’m always a fan of the underdog story & will talk a lot about the smaller schools & weaker teams (Montrose, Shen Valley, CMVT, ES North, etc.), as I feel the teams like those deserve to be seen & heard. Sometimes a rivalry win for them is like a state title.
I’m looking forward to the upcoming 26-27 PIAA football cycle & will be curious if this is the last two-year cycle before the public/private bill is fully passed & kicks in & we have a changed landscape like in our neighbor states.
I’ll still pop in during the offseason. I know that D2 schedules will be out hopefully by January, so I’ll share some interesting scheduling notes. Maybe we’ll have a coaching change or two that’s still under wraps (Scranton’s looking for one, I believe, so stay tuned).
For now, if I don’t pop back in here much until the New Year, I hope you guys have a great Christmas & holiday season.
Appreciate you contribution to the board, have a nice Christmas and New Year!
Agreed!!
The same to the both of you!!
2021 is probably the gold standard when it comes to entertainment value for State title games Look at the area where these teams are from
Mt. Lebanon 35, St. Joseph’s Prep 17 Mt Leb WPIAL
Penn-Trafford 17, Imhotep Charter 14 PT WPIAL
Aliquippa 34, Bishop McDevitt 27 Quips WPIAL
Central Valley 7, Wyomissing Area 0 CV WPIAL + Wyo D3 powerhouse
Southern Columbia 62, Serra Catholic 25 SC Top Public School Program in the State
Bishop Guilfoyle 21, Redbank Valley 14
Where’s District 1? Where 5A and 6A programs are a joke! It wasn’t always this way, North Penn won a 6A championship, Dan Connor’s Strath Haven’s teams were as good as any in the State….remember the recruiting complaints about Strath Haven back in the day. What happened? If North Penn-District 1 champ and one of the largest schools in PA were to play 3A State Champ Avonworth this season, I would pick Avonworth to win that game. Something happened in the last 20 years. Lacrosse, Soccer emphasis? Interest in playing football waning? The privates where there 20 years ago, it didn’t matter, Public school programs in D1 were good. I don’t want to see the Publics and Privates separated, NJ has the A teams-(Private Schools) and the B teams-(public schools) D1 has to start producing teams that can compete and beat the Catholic League 5A and 6A schools like they did in the past. Moving up Roman Catholic to 6A…..they will repeat next year if they stay in 5A and McDevitt…no 5A team has the talent to beat them in D3 makes perfect sense.
Is it really hard to understand District 1? District 1’s location has to battle with 13 PCL Teams, 6 Inter-Ac Teams, plus multiple teams in DE to keep the players home. So the best middle school (sometimes earlier) are leaving District 1 and heading private. Most parts in the state are not fighting this battle as direct as District 1. 20+ years ago the privates did exist but it wasn’t the way it is now. You had to live in certain parishes to go to schools. Do you honestly think the best coaches just magically forgot how to coach in the past 20 years? District 1 doesn’t get a chance to prove itself against anyone else for the most part except for the Eastern Final vs the multi-state all star teams from District 12. It is a numbers game and the best players leaving creates voids. Now with all the transfers, District 1 will have a hard time competing when District 12 is the wild west. Need a QB? Don’t worry about developing an underclassman, just find the next transfer. Need some line help? Poach the kid from the public district. District 1 is true public school football. Change some of the coaches out and guarantee the same results. It takes talent to win games. Dave Gueriera was 16-18 in 3 years at WC East and now running a powerhouse at Malvern. What changed? Talent or coaching?
That doesn’t explain why North Penn’s 2016 team would have mercy ruled this years team, or why 2017 Coatesville played a very competitive game with SJP and almost beat them. Also, for the 2018-19 cycle D12 was moved to the western bracket, so it was D1 vs. D3 in the eastern final, and D3 beat them both times. I understand the PCL and Inter-AC siphon off some of the best players, but that can’t be the only explanation for the decline of quality teams from DI over the last decade.
It’s definitely not the only reason just an easy excuse for whatever might ail 6a district one teams. I don’t think the quality of coaching is what it once was for many reasons some of which are not the fault of the coaches . The number of players on the rosters has definitely dropped with a few exceptions. There just seems to be a major drop off in physicality from yrs gone by. All the spread offenses play into that. Athlete’s not playing multiple sports as much as they used too. Different mind set of kids today and I’m not saying all but many who don’t necessarily want to deal with the work that is required to play football at a high level.
I agree with you about D1, hard to believe they haven’t won a state title since NP in 2003. They came close a few times, both NP and Coatesville had epic games with SJP 8-9 years ago, and Cheltenham almost beat Wood in the 5A final in 2019, but that’s about it as far as D1 goes. I too think Avonworth would beat NP, and they would beat most of the teams in the WPIAL, I would only put PCC, Pine Richland and Peters ahead of them, they are as good or better than every other team in the WPIAL this year. That’s both a compliment to how good Avonworth is, and also how down the WPIAL is compared to a decade ago, there’s no way a 3A (or in the old days 2A) team would be a top 5 WPIAL team in the past.
Jeff H, exactly right you know more about the western half then I do but there has to be more factors then the private -public issue especially out west where there arent as many private schools. Many other things have come into play over the yrs.
PA has the A teams and B teams as well. They just do not have the good sense to separate them come playoff time.