Schools Decide if they will play “up” next season
As teams across the state get ready to compete for the state championship this weekend – including Gateway and Pine-Richland – others found out what classification they will be competing in 2018.
A number of Class 5A and 6A schools in the WPIAL have changed their classification.
In Class 6A, Penn Hills, Shaler, Bethel Park and Peters Township elected not to play up and will drop down to now a very crowded Class 5A. Penn Hills, Bethel Park and Peters Township all made the playoffs this year in Class 6A.
The remaining schools that will compete in Class 6A are North Allegheny, Seneca Valley, Butler, Hempfield, Mt. Lebanon, Central Catholic, Norwin, Pine-Richland and Canon-McMillan. The class will also lose Altoona who will not compete in the WPIAL next year.
The big story in Class 5A is that McKeesport elected to play up and stay instead of moving down to Class 4A. In recent years, the Tigers have proven that they compete at the highest level in Class 5A.
In other conference news, North Hills basketball elected to stay up in Class 6A and Plum baseball did the same thing.