Wyomissing wins PIAA appeal, will remain in 3A for football

Wyomissing earned its first win of the 2022 football season Wednesday afternoon, and it was a big one.

Two weeks after seeing its appeal to remain in Class 3A turned down by the PIAA administrative staff the school was granted its appeal by the Board of Directors following a lengthy discussion.

Because of its success the past two seasons — a pair of district championships and back-to-back appearances in the PIAA Class 3A championship game — and because it was said to have at least three transfers on its roster last season Wyomissing was scheduled to move up one classification due to the PIAA’s “Success Formula,” which was implemented in 2018 in an attempt to curb widespread, athletically motivated recruiting.

The Board voted, by a 21-4-1 margin, to grant Wyomissing its appeal. The hearing was not public, by request of superintendent Robert Scoboria.

PIAA Board president Frank Majikes stated that Wyomissing’s appeal was based on the fact that its transfers were due to “divorce, homelessness and financial hardship.”

Earlier, Aliquippa, during a public hearing, cited player safety as the reason it should not be moved up to 5A. Aliquippa’s enrollement would place it in Class 1A, but it requested to play up to 3A several years ago. Two years it was bumped up to 4A because of the Competition Formula.

Alquippa was also granted an appeal, by the same 21-4-1 margin, and will remain in Class 4A.

Aliquippa brought on NFL Hall of Famer and former Quip defensive back Ty Law to speak to the Board of Directors. He was joined by several attorneys, the school superintendent, athletic director, team physician and head football coach. It’s presentation lasted more than 90 minutes.

Wyomissing was represented by Scoboria, principal Dr. Corey Jones, assistant principal Dr. Matt Redcay and athletic director Frank Ferrandino.

Scoboria and Ferrandino could not be reached for comment following the meeting.

Aliquippa’s appeal was based on the fact that in Class 5A it would be competing against program with three times its enrollment and four and five times its school budget.

Now that it remains in Class 3A Wyomissing will be an early favorite to win the District 3 championship and return to the state playoffs. Some feel it has chance to make it back to a third straight state title game.

In Class 4A the Spartans would have had to contend with a powerhouse Bishop McDevitt team, coming off an appearance in the PIAA championship game, Lampeter-Strasburg and several other top District 3 programs from larger schools.

Wyomissing’s initial written appeal was rejected earlier this month by the PIAA administrative staff.

Wyomissing was among eight football teams initially targeted to move up via the Competition Formula. At least two of those schools, Redbank Valley and Southern Columbia, previously won their initial appeals.

Cathedral Prep also had a hearing scheduled Wednesday but because of the length of Aliquippa’s presentation it will be rescheduled. The PIAA Board meeting was still on-going at 6 p.m., more than 5 1/2 hours after it began.

Other schools forced to move up one class in football for the next two seasons are: Jersey Shore, a 4A semifinalist; Class 3A champ Central Valley; and Bishop Guilfoyle, the 1A champ. Central Valley was slated to move up because of an enrollment increase, so the Competition Formula had no effect.

Wyomissing believed there were extenuating circumstances in its case: One of its transfers barely got on the field; another initially attended Wyomissing, transferred out, then returned; a third was granted a transfer waiver making him eligible to play in the postseason.

The Competition Formula currently applies only to football and boys and girls basketball, though there has been discussion about expanding it to other sports.

The rule was put into place in 2018 as part of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association’s effort to level the playing field. Public schools across the state were screaming about the “recruiting” advantages of parochial, private and charter schools.

The wide-ranging rules enacted were well-intentioned and much-needed: Many students were hopping from school to school with obvious athletic intent and the relationship between between boundary (public) and non-boundary (private) schools became increasingly contentious.

If a football or basketball program earns six success points during a two-year PIAA enrollment cycle and does so with a stated number of transfers — three in football, one in basketball — it is moved up one classification.

That happened to Southern Columbia, Aliquippa, Imhotep Charter and Archbishop Wood in 2020.

A team is awarded one point for reaching the PIAA round of 16, a second point for reaching the state quarterfinals, a third point for reaching the semifinals and a fourth for reaching the championship game.