New Schuylkill football league could present scheduling opportunties for Berks
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Fourteen schools have agreed to leave the Schuylkill/Colonial Football Cooperative following the 2025 season to form the Schuylkill Football League, according to published reports today on t102sportsnow.com.
Schuylkill League athletic directors and league officers today officially approved the formation of the league for the 2026-27 seasons, according to Leroy Boyer, reporting for t102sportsnow.com.
The new league will be split into two divisions based on enrollment, with the eight Class 4A and 3A schools in Division I and six Class 2A and 1A schools in the other.
The divisions will reportedly look like this:
Division I: Blue Mountain, North Schuylkill, Panther Valley, Pine Grove, Pottsville, Tamaqua.
Division II: Mahanoy Area, Marian, Minersville, Nativity, Schuylkill Haven, Shenandoah Valley, Tri-Valley, Williams Valley
There will be no mandatory crossover games, meaning the Division I schools will be looking for five non-league opponents and the Division II schools will be seeking three non-league opponents.
Some Berks schools have had difficulty finding non-league games, especially with the Mid-Penn Conference’s move to nine-team sections for the 2024 season.
Play in the 28-team Schuylkill/Colonial Football Cooperative began in 2021. It initially had a four-division format before switching to a three-division format with nine or 10 league games for the 2024-25 seasons.
The increase in the number of league games forced Pottsville to end its long rivalry with Wyomissing; the teams met 13 times between 2007-22, usually in Week 1 or Week 2, and always at Pottsville. The Spartans filled that opening by scheduling The Haverford School in Week 2 for 2024 and 2025.
Pottsville and Blue Mountain were each members of the Berks Football League for several years, Pottsville from 2004-12, Blue Mountain from 2004-10.
The Schuylkill League had a two-division football league from 2016-19 after Pottsville left the Berks League and the Anthracite Football League dissolved.
