For several area high school boys' basketball programs, the WPIAL realignment last week was a matter of class warfare.

No fewer than five PG Washington teams changed enrollment classifications starting next season. Two others, Trinity and McGuffey, remained in Class AAA but were switched from Section 4 to Section 5, and Avella and Bentworth shifted from Section 3-A to 2-A.

Four of the five teams that changed classifications moved "up," which should present a new set of tests for those teams.

"It's definitely a challenge," said California coach Phil Pergola, whose team was a power in Class A but will compete in Class AA next season. "We can't avoid it. You can't go back and say, 'If we play in Double-A, we can't win.' We'll go into it with the idea we can win."

The Trojans were 40-10 the past two seasons playing on the Class A level. California does have a history of playing at Class AA, however.

It will compete in Section 5-AA. Joining the Trojans will be another team that is moving "up" from Class A, Frazier, though the Commodores have not been nearly as successful in Class A in recent years, going 2-20 this season.

The other area schools moving "up" are Ringgold, which goes from Class AAA into Section 4-AAAA and Waynesburg Central, which was moved from Class AA to Section 5-AAA. Beth-Center was dropped from Class AA into Section 2-A.

For Ringgold, Class AAAA isn't unfamiliar territory. The Rams were in Class AAAA since the classification's inception in 1983-84 until a two-season sabbatical in Class AAA starting in 2006-07.

Switching classes also is nothing new for the Rams' coach, Pete Logan.

Logan has coaching stops at Brownsville and Clairton, winning WPIAL titles at the Class AAA and Class A levels, respectively. He said he hopes his players take the switch to Class AAAA as a positive.

"I think they need to take it as a challenge, bring that to the practice floor and hopefully transition it to the game floor," Logan said. "If you think that just because it's Quad-A, that's where all the greatest competition is, I think you're fooled."

Ringgold is coming off its first playoff appearance in 11 years (albeit with only an 8-17 overall record). The Rams played only three WPIAL Class AAAA teams during their two seasons as part of Class AAA, going 0-3.

But Logan said the number of A's next to a team's section has little to do with a team's strength. Unlike football, where sheer numbers can dictate success due to the large number of players needed to field a team and fill positions, basketball lends itself to a more even playing field.

"I know when I was in Single-A, they were some really great, athletic teams. If you look over the years in the WPIAL, Double-A is probably more competitive than any other classification over the past 10 years," Logan said. "You just have to be prepared to play against the five best kids on the other team. That's the nice thing about basketball: If you find five or eight good kids, you can compete on any level ... So I wouldn't think that going to Quad-A would put any kind of fear [in his players]. I think if they don't work hard, that's the only time they should fear anybody."

Trinity, another team that had spent the first 22 seasons of Class AAAA's existence as part of the classification, has not made the playoffs since 2003 -- the past two years of which were played in Class AAA.

Counting McGuffey, the Hillers played three of the other six teams in its new section last season a total of five times, so it won't be a totally new experience.

"There are a lot of similar teams and similar styles in Sections 4 and 5," Trinity coach Joe Dunn said. "What the WPIAL did, it seems to make a lot of geographic sense, both in terms of mileage and rivalries."