Question for everyone

[count2infinity]

Coach pointed out that each classification at the state finals have a WPIAL team in it. thus there is a chance for a WPIAL sweep to take home all 4 state titles.

simply out of curiosity... when was the last time the districts were aligned? looking at the districts not only is district 5 the second smallest by number of schools (the only one smaller is district 8, the Pittsburgh city schools district) but is also among the smallest by area. now, this might be my own logic, but i would think that the more rural area would have a larger district than a more populated area. WPIAL has 123 high schools to pull from. that is 28 more high schools than its closest district (district 3)... i don't know, maybe it's a bias i have coming out of district 5, but i would think they'd have more of a chance if there were more schools so that their best team comes from a higher number of schools and would overall be better.

here's the district map, and you can clearly see how small district 5 is and how large some other districts are.

[Crimson Returns]

Good points C2I. I never had really looked at the map before, but it does make you wonder if a reallignment would benefit the competition around here. Are there any reasonably strong rivalries that this would affect? I'm not too familiar with those outside of the Cambria area.

[Head Roadie]

Originally, there were 8 Districts....I think current districts 9 and 10 were District 8, and District 11 was part of District One. That was back around 1920 or so. District 5 actually had 4 counties at one time, Franklin County went to District 3 right around 1930. It was at that time or very close to it that they went to 12 districts.

The most recent (and only major) realignments in the last 75 years were when Old District 12 (which was smaller than 5) that included Susquehanna, Wayne and part of Pike Counties in the NW corner of Pa. merging with District 2 and becoming District 2 and then when Philly schools came in they took over the District 12 banner.

Don't look for any realignment soon. Traditionalists like things the way they are and the only thing the PIAA is doing to make accomodations is making districts have at least 4 schools to sponsor a championship in particular sports and classifications. If they have less than 4 they ship them to an adjoining district for their tournament and call it a sub-regional. Examples are 5-AA in football going to 6, 6-AAAA going to 3, and Williamsport, the only 4-AAAA going to Dist. 2 to compete for state tournament berths.

[D-nice]

maybe district 5 could join district 7 and district 5 could pretend that they are acually representing in championship games.

[Crimson Returns]

Originally, there were 8 Districts....I think current districts 9 and 10 were District 8, and District 11 was part of District One. That was back around 1920 or so. District 5 actually had 4 counties at one time, Franklin County went to District 3 right around 1930. It was at that time or very close to it that they went to 12 districts.

The most recent (and only major) realignments in the last 75 years were when Old District 12 (which was smaller than 5) that included Susquehanna, Wayne and part of Pike Counties in the NW corner of Pa. merging with District 2 and becoming District 2 and then when Philly schools came in they took over the District 12 banner.

Don't look for any realignment soon. Traditionalists like things the way they are and the only thing the PIAA is doing to make accomodations is making districts have at least 4 schools to sponsor a championship in particular sports and classifications. If they have less than 4 they ship them to an adjoining district for their tournament and call it a sub-regional. Examples are 5-AA in football going to 6, 6-AAAA going to 3, and Williamsport, the only 4-AAAA going to Dist. 2 to compete for state tournament berths.

Interesting. Great info, thanks HR!

[count2infinity]

i would just think, logically speaking, that more rural areas would have a larger area of land than the more populated urban areas of the state. it works that way for school districts... heck it takes 45 min to an hour to drive from one side of chestnut ridge school district to the other.

[once a runner]

Don't look for any realignment soon. Traditionalists like things the way they are and the only thing the PIAA is doing to make accomodations is making districts have at least 4 schools to sponsor a championship in particular sports and classifications. If they have less than 4 they ship them to an adjoining district for their tournament and call it a sub-regional.

I agree that there is no way D7 or D1 would allow for realignment. One change I think the PIAA can make without upsetting the traditionalists from the larger districts is increase the number of teams necessary to hold a district championship. As you stated, the number currently stands at 4. I think it should be increased to around 8. I can't see having a meaningful district championship with only 4 teams.

I wouldn't be opposed to districts 5 and 6 merging, much the way the old D12 merged with D2. However, there may be some D5 traditionalists that would not want this to happen. It would certainly make it a lot harder for current D5 schools to win a district title, but I think it would raise the quality of play in all sports.

[El-Moldo]

The way it looks now, D 6 will have 3 private schools in Single A football, D 5 will have none. Why would D 5 want to merge with D 6 just from that standpoint alone?

[Wrangler]

With the new classification numbers out, Somerset is now a class AA district in football. With this, Somerset should return back to District 5 so we would have 4 teams with Bedford, Chestnut Ridge, North Star & Somerset in class AA. This should be enforced by the PIAA and/or District 5 committee to make this move happen. Also, I agree a merger between district 6 & 5 should be examined which could help Chestnut Ridge which is left looking for a new conference / schedule based on the actions the ICC took recently with Chestnut Ridge.

[Head Roadie]

I don't have answers for why district lines were drawn the way they were other than I know the WPIAL (Dist. 7) was around for many years before the PIAA and probably wanted to retain there own identity.

As for Somerset...that is not a district 5 question at all....Somerset would have to want to come back into where they belong geographically and apply to leave District 6. If past practices are any indication, forget District 6 allowing it as they have held Indian Valley and Lewistown (wanted to go to D4) and Ferndale and Claysburg (wanted to go to D5) previously and haven't let anyone out since, I believe, Indiana H.S. was allowed to go to the WPIAL in the early 80's.

As for the C.Ridge question, I don't think a district merger (5 & 6 --which won't happen anyway) would mean a thing...it is a league problem and among the leagues with AA schools, the LHAC doesn't have room for them and they turned down the MAC after originally scheduling with them due to, I believe, travel considerations. Probably the way everything shook down after the fact, and hindsight is 20/20, Ridge is probably wishing it had stayed in the LHAC back in 2000.