The PIAA has made a change to its competitive-balance rule where teams in any sport won’t be bumped up in classification unless they go to the state championship one year and at least the semifinals the next.
The new rule was passed at a PIAA board of directors meeting Wednesday. The competitive-balance rule uses a classification formula to possibly bump teams up one classification if they earn enough “success points” over two years and also have a certain number of players who transferred from another school.
Success points are earned by going far in the postseason. One point is earned for making it to a district championship or first-round PIAA playoff game. Two points are earned for making the PIAA quarterfinals, three for the semifinals and four for the championship.
In the past, accumulating six success points could bump up a team in classification, but only if they also had the minimum number of transfers over a two-year period. The number of transfers were three in football and one in basketball. But it should be pointed out that the competitive-balance rule now applies to all team sports in the PIAA.
Under the new rule, teams need to reach seven success points to possibly move up — but also have the minimum number of transfers.
“The feeling of the board was to go to seven points because that means you have to play in a [PIAA] championship game at least once,” PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi said. “With only six points, you could play in only two semifinals, never play in a championship and possibly have to go up.”
The PIAA board also is considering a proposal for changing the number of transfers needed to be moved up as part of the classification formula. The proposal would apply to all sports. As an example, the number of transfers needed to trigger a possible move up in basketball would go from one to two, three to five in football and two to four in baseball and softball.
“The rationale was used to take half of the number of players needed to start a game under [National Federation of State High School Association] rules,” Lombardi said. “Then take half of that. So in football, half of 11 would be 5.5, so we rounded it down to 5.”
The changes in the number of transfers needs to pass two more readings.
Also, the PIAA board directed the organization’s executive staff to develop language concerning healthy and safety in the competitive-balance rule. Aliquippa’s football team was supposed to be bumped up to Class 5A for the 2024 and 2025 seasons under the competitive-balance rule and classification formula. But the Aliquippa School District took the PIAA to court and won a preliminary injunction to keep the team in Class 4A.
Aliquippa used health and safety concerns as one of the reasons the Quips should not be moved up.
“The language will be developed for all sports to address health and safety proposals in having a team move up in a classification,” Lombardi said.
But speaking of Aliquippa, when the school won a preliminary injunction in the spring, Beaver Country Common Please Judge James Ross wrote in his ruling that the injunction was only for one year. That left a question of what would happen to Aliquippa next season? Would the Quips stay in Class 4A or would they have to go to 5A? The PIAA lost an appeal of Ross’ ruling.
When asked Wednesday what classification Aliquippa would be in next season, Lombardi said, “that’s still in litigation.”
First Published: December 5, 2024, 12:19 a.m.
Updated: December 5, 2024, 12:31 a.m.
