PG West/North/South/East: Now WPIAL-backed, lacrosse will see some significant changes
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There has been a boys' high school lacrosse champion decided in Western Pennsylvania for the past 19 years.
This spring, however, will be the first time the champion will be recognized by the WPIAL. Boys' lacrosse is no longer a club sport in Western Pennsylvania. The PIAA and WPIAL are conducting tournaments this spring to determine champions for varsity teams.
"Lacrosse in certain school districts has always gotten the warmest reception, but this legitimizes everything," said Mt. Lebanon coach Kee Joe Song, whose program has won three consecutive titles under the Western Pennsylvania Scholastic Lacrosse Association banner.
"Now this is a legitimate sport and our teams deserve good facilities as well as a locker room and some support from the school just like any other varsity sport," Song said.
"Our [athletic director] at Mt. Lebanon has been awesome for us since I started here [in 2006]. A lot of other ADs have just embraced it and I think other people will come around over time. This is the first step, to be a WPIAL sport."
The Blue Devils are one of the top preseason contenders again and Song is excited about competing as a member of the WPIAL. For at least the next two years, however, Mt. Lebanon, Sewickley Academy, Shady Side Academy and Franklin Regional will maintain ties with the Midwest League as well.
It is an organization that loosely aligns several lacrosse programs from Western Pennsylvania with the top teams from the Cleveland, Columbus and Detroit metro areas. Mt. Lebanon is scheduled to play at the annual Midwest League tournament May 15-16 in Hudson, Ohio.
"The biggest draw for the teams to be in that league is the tournament is so heavily attended by college coaches," said Song, whose team will play two regular-season games against teams from Ohio, two from Michigan and two from New York.
"We counted about 70 [college]coaches at last year's tournament. We have to [keep playing in the Midwest League]. It's not easy for a kid to get seen [by a college coach] when playing in Pittsburgh for his high school team.
"We have kids who go to these summer recruiting camps and they play on summer travel teams. But [they are better off] playing with their [high school] team in a system they are more comfortable with to really look their best in front of the college coaches."
Despite Song's optimism, there are a few minor adjustments that must be made.
In previous years, there was no limit on the number of games a team could play during its regular schedule or the number of preseason scrimmages. Under PIAA guidelines, teams are limited to 18 regular-season games and two scrimmages.
"I'm not sure if we are going to be as ready to start the season like we have been in the past, but all teams will be in a similar situation," said Song, noting his team had 12 preseason scrimmages last year in the pre-WPIAL era.
Mt. Lebanon will be competing in Division 1, Section 1 of the WPIAL along with Baldwin, Peters Township, Bethel Park, Upper St. Clair, Latrobe and Franklin Regional, playing each section foe just once.
The WPIAL's other top Division 1 section (2) will feature North Allegheny, Pine-Richland, Seneca Valley, Sewickley Academy, Fox Chapel, Central Catholic and Shady Side Academy. The top four finishers in each section will qualify for the playoffs with the top three finishers among the eight WPIAL playoff qualifiers moving on to the PIAA playoffs.
The playoffs will consist of the top nine teams from the 77 schools competing in eastern Pennsylvania (primarily PIAA District 1) and the top four finishers from the central part of the state (traditionally District 3 territory).
There are 30 schools playing under the WPIAL umbrella this season, but the 16 schools competing in the less competitive Division 2 will not be eligible for the WPIAL playoff format designed to qualify for the PIAA playoffs.
Some of the more prominent programs in Division 2 include Hampton, Butler, North Hills, Greensburg Central Catholic and Chartiers Valley. For at least the first two seasons, the schools are not designated to a particular division based on enrollment size, but rather how competitive each has been in recent years.
"We've changed very little with our program [because of the move to the WPIAL]," said John Rullan, in his eighth season at North Allegheny where he has a record of 84-40.
"We already had the full support of our athletic director [Bob Bozzuto]. He had been helping us with field time and working with us so it really hasn't been a big transition for us. Bob has been in the forefront of this, to make sure this thing goes off so we can grow.
"We want to see the sport grow [in the WPIAL] so we're hoping to see it picked up by other schools. We still have to travel [to Buffalo, N.Y., May 2] to find tougher competition, but in the long run we want to see it expand and become more competitive locally.
"And now that we are PIAA-sanctioned, they don't look at us as a club any more. Every AD is going to want to win, so they're going to have to put some time into [lacrosse] and I think that's what is going to make it grow."
First Published March 26, 2009 12:00 am
