Antietam looking for new football home after Exeter ends co-op agreement
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Timing, says athletic director Brian Laiacona, was not on Antietam’s side.
Had the PIAA cutoff date to report enrollment numbers been a few days later Antietam student-athletes would have the chance to continue playing football at Exeter.
When the official enrollment numbers were reported to the PIAA Oct. 1 Antietam had one too many students for its own good.
Antietam’s reported enrollment of 171 boys, grades 9-11, would have pushed Exeter up a classification to Class 6A; news set off sirens in the Eagles’ war room.
“We have so many kids going in and out of our district that our numbers are constantly changing,” lamented Laiacona. “On Oct. 3rd we had a male student leave; on Oct. 5 we had another student leave.”
Too late to save football at Antietam. The school was informed in November that Exeter was dropping its joint co-operative sponsorship agreement for the 2024 season and beyond.
“It is disappointing,” Laiacona said, “(but) if I’m Exeter, I’m doing the same exact thing.”
Had Exeter continued its longstanding arrangement with its neighboring school districts its football enrollment would have been 619.5. The cutoff to remain at the Class 5A level for the next two-year cycle is 619.
Under PIAA rules the larger of the two schools adds 50 percent of the smaller school’s enrollment (boys 9-11) to its enrollment total. Exeter would have been one-half a student above the Class 5A limit.
“I called the PIAA (and told them): ‘We need this co-op; we need football,” Laiacona said. “It’s a good partnership.”
Now Antietam, the smallest of the BCIAA’s 19 schools and one which has never sponsored its own football team, will have to look elsewhere for a football partner.
PIAA rules stipulate a co-op can exist only with a bordering school district. Antietam borders five districts: Exeter, Gov. Mifflin, Muhlenberg, Oley Valley, and Reading High.
Oley Valley does not have a football team; its student-athletes play at Fleetwood.
Reading High is already Class 6A and Mifflin will be for 2024-25, so additional enrollment will not affect their classification.
Muhlenberg is one of largest Class 5A schools in the state; additional enrollment would push it up one classification. It previously co-opted with Antietam but ended the agreement in order to avoid playing at a higher level.
Exeter and Antietam have co-op arrangements for many other sports and those will not be affected. This was a football-only move by Exeter, which won the District 3 Class 3A championship in 2021 and reached the title game against in 2022.
“This was a difficult decision that was made solely due to the change in PIAA classification parameters that would have bumped Exeter from 5A to 6A,” Exeter athletic director Tom Legath said in a statement. “Unfortunately, PIAA classifies our football program based upon the combined male enrollment at both Antietam and Exeter, despite us only hosting two Antietam players.
“We maintain strong ties and support of Antietam students with nearly 25 other athletic co-ops that are thankfully not affected by this football reclassification.”
Laiacona said that more than a dozen Antietam students played football this season at Exeter, most at the junior high level. There were just two on the varsity level, he said.
The current high school players can continue to play with Exeter until they graduate under a PIAA “grandfather” clause, or until Antietam finds a new co-op partner.
The number of Antietam players on the Exeter roster has varied over the last decade. Some years there have been six or more.
In 2022 there were four and a couple of them played major roles in a season that saw the Eagles win a program-record 12 games and play in the District 3 Class 5A championship game for the second straight year.
Kyle Lash was Defensive Lineman of the Year in Section 2 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League last season and a starting offensive guard. He’s now playing at Albright. Javon Hollis was a starter on defense; he’s now playing at Eastern University.
Laiacona said he is in discussions with another Berks school and hopes to find a new co-op home for Antietam’s football players.
“We want to give all of our kids the chance to play, that’s the goal,” he said.
Exeter’s co-op with Antietam was one of four in effect among Berks schools this season, along with Conrad Weiser/Tulpehocken, Kutztown/Brandywine Heights and Fleetwood/Oley Valley.