Wyomissing again facing move up in classification due to PIAA success formula
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The Wyomissing Spartans may end up as the victim of their own success.
After back-to-back appearances in the state Class 3A football semifinals Wyomissing could be bumped up one classification under the PIAA’s Competition Formula.
That would mean competing against the likes of larger schools with top-tier programs such as Manheim Central, Bishop McDevitt and Class 4A champ Aliquippa in the postseason.
Those schools, along with Cocalico of the Lancaster-Lebanon League, are among 11 which have met the success portion of the PIAA equation.
Any football program which earns six “success points” over the two-year scheduling cycle can potentially be moved up one classification provided they also have three or more transfers.
| Schools with 6+ success points this cycle | |
| 5A | Cocalico |
| 5A | Imhotep Charter |
| 5A | Pine-Richland |
| 4A | Aliquippa |
| 4A | Bishop McDevitt |
| 3A | Belle Vernon |
| 3A | Northwestern Lehigh |
| 3A | Wyomissing |
| 2A | Southern Columbia |
| 2A | Westinghouse |
| 1A | Steel-High |
Programs earn four points for reaching the state championship game, three points for reaching the semifinals, two points for reaching the quarterfinals and one point for reaching the opening round of state play.
Wyomissing has reached the semifinals in back-to-back seasons, thus earning six “success points.”
If it had three or more transfers on its roster during the two-year cycle, which it appears to have had, it can be moved up one classification.
Athletic director Frank Ferrandino confirmed Wyomissing has received a letter from the PIAA indicating that it has reached the “success points” threshold.
The Spartans used at least three transfers this season on their way to a fifth straight District 3 Class 3A championship and 12-2 finish, several of whom played significant roles.
“Yes and no,” Ferrandino said when asked if Wyomissing had three or more transfers this season, “it depends what your definition of transfers are.”
The PIAA defines a transfer as any student-athlete who played the sport at a different school during 10th, 11th or 12th grade.
Ferrandino said Wyomissing will appeal any decision to be moved up, as it did two years when it was in a similar position after making back-to-back state final appearances. The school’s written appeal was rejected following the 2021 season but was later accepted following a hearing with the Board of Directors, allowing the program to continue to compete at the Class 3A level.
Following the successful Jan. 2022 appeal, PIAA Board president Frank Majikes said Wyomissing’s transfers were due to “divorce, homelessness and financial hardship.”
The Board went outside its hard-and-fast rules and granted the appeal.
Ferrandino said the school is currently investigating the facts and believes it has a chance for another successful appeal.
“There’s a lot of things to discuss,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll get an opportunity to discuss them.”
The Competition Formula was put in place in 2018 as a way to stop the widespread recruiting that had rankled so many public school coaches and officials for years. It was an attempt to slow the flow of highly talented athletes to top football and basketball programs.
Wyomissing was one of several schools to launch a successful appeal in 2022.
Aliquippa’s defense team, which included several attorneys as well as pro football Hall of Famer and former Quip Ty Law, pointed out holes in the rule during a lengthy and often testy 90-minute-plus exchange. Aliquippa won its appeal.
Southern Columbia and Redbank Valley were also granted appeals in 2022.
Southern Columbia, which won its seventh straight PIAA Class 2A title earlier this month, has obviously exceeded the “success points” threshold but isn’t expected to move up. Mike White of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Southern coach Jim Roth said his program will not exceed the PIAA transfer.
White also reported that Westinghouse, Aliquippa, and Pine-Richland, each of which have accumulated six or more “success points,” are not moving up. Westinghouse will remain in Class 2A, Aliquippa in 4A and Pine-Richland in 5A because, according to their coaches, they have not exceeded the transfer limit.
Cocalico coach Bryan Strohl told MikeDragoSports.com he believes his school has not exceeded the transfer limit, either.
Southern Columbia, Aliquippa, Imhotep Charter and Archbishop Wood each moved up one classification in 2020 due to the formula. Bishop Guilfoyle was moved up in 2022.
Critics of the rule point out that it does not affect teams in the largest classification. Class 6A champ St. Joseph’s Prep, for example, can win with an unlimited number of transfer but won’t be penalized because it already plays in the highest classification.
The PIAA Board of Directors approved a measure earlier this year to apply the Competition Formula to all team sports, starting with the 2024-25 school year. Previously the rule applied only to football and basketball.
There was some sentiment to remove the transfer part of the formula and apply it based strictly on success, but that measure did not pass a third reading. It passed the first two readings.
Wyomissing is on an unprecedented run which has seen it go 40-4 over the last three seasons, 49-5 over the last four seasons and 61-6 over the last five seasons. It went nearly five years without losing a regular season game before falling at Cocalico this season, snapping its Berks-record 41-game winning streak.
Wyomissing’s streak of five straight district championships is the longest in Berks history and one the longest in District 3 history.
If Wyomissing remains in Class 3A it likely would be a top contender for a sixth straight title, what with the return of halfback Justice Hardy, linebackers Chase Eisenhower, Tyler Niedrowski and Luis Huertas, defensive back Derek Macrina and linemen Max Tipton, Jordan Gwynn, Caleb Beane and Keaton Piacine.
