Wyomissing once again in the crosshairs of PIAA’s Competition Formula

By Mike Drago Last updated Jan 27, 2026

Wyomissing coach Bob Wolfrum talks things over with his defensive unit. (Tim Macrina photo)

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Before being pushed up one classification by the PIAA’s Competition Formula Wyomissing dominated District 3 football at the Class 3A level.

The Spartans won five straight championships from 2019-23, and some of them weren’t even close: They beat West Perry 42-14 and 63-7 and Boiling Springs 55-13.

Had Wyomissing remained in 3A there’s little doubt it would have clicked off championships in 2024 and 2025.

Class 4A has proved to be a stepper hill to climb, in large part because of a pair of outstanding teams, Lampeter-Strasburg in 2024 and Twin Valley this season. Each took an unbeaten record into their respective PIAA championship game.

Wyomissing came close to a sixth straight championship in 2024; it took L-S to overtime in the title game.

This season the Spartans were eliminated in the semifinals, giving up a touchdown to Susquehanna Township on the last play of the game.

So, which championship will Wyomissing be competing for in the upcoming two-year cycle, 4A or 3A?

Playoff losses to Lampeter-Strasburg and Susquehanna Township mean the Spartans could be in line to return to 3A; they didn’t earn enough success points to remain at 4A.

However, according to a notification the school received from the PIAA, Wyomissing’s total number of transfers over the current two-year cycle exceeds the minimum allowed (five). That means Wyomissing could remain at the Class 4A level.

The school plans to appeal to the PIAA. It believes the number of transfers who played for the team the past two seasons is less than five.

This has been an ongoing issue. In 2022 Wyomissing appealed the PIAA’s initial decision and won, allowing it to remain at the 3A level. In 2024 its appeal to remain in 3A was denied.

The Competition Formula was put in place in 2018 in an attempt to slow 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 has won more district championships than any Berks football program. (Tim Macrina photo)

The PIAA’s definition of a transfer is simply a student-athlete who moves from one school to another, regardless of reason or intent. It doesn’t consider perceived intent, playing time, or value to the team in regard to transfers.

As former PIAA executive director Dr. Robert Lombardi often said: “A transfer is a transfer.”

Any time a name that wasn’t on a team’s roster the year before shows up the PIAA flags it as a transfer. The onus is on the school to convince the PIAA that the new name was not an actual transfer.

Wyomissing has gotten tied up in this net before.

“We have students that moved to our school district and played football, but that doesn’t contribute to the success of our football program,” Wyomissing principal Dr. Corey Jones said following the 2024 decision. “We’ve had a successful program for many years.

“Students move to any school district for many, many reasons: Life changes, job changes, family changes. There’s many reasons, and football isn’t one of those reasons. That was our point.

“It’s always (been) our contention (that) we feel the spirit of the competition formula is to deter athletic transfers. We always try to separate an athletic transfer from a student who moved to the Wyomissing School District and decided to play football.”

The PIAA grants exceptions to “unusual circumstances beyond the reasonable control of the student or the student’s family,” things such as financial hardship, or a move necessitated by a parent’s job or military service.

As for appeals, they are “are limited to a mathematical error in the assignment of Success Points or asserted errors in the assignment of the number of transfers,” according to a statement released after Wyomissing’s unsuccessful appear in 2024.

The PIAA has tweaked the Competition Formula several times since its inception, attempting to make it less restrictive. Last year it increased the number of success points (for football) from six to seven and the number of transfers (for football) from three to five.

Wyomissing coach Bob Wolfrum is bothered more by the implication that his program is coloring outside the lines than the fact that championships have been harder to come by in recent years. If you know Wolfrum, he relishes playing top competition: Why else would the Spartans continue to schedule 15-time PIAA champ Southern Columbia?

“If we have to play up, we have to play up,” he said shortly after last season ended. “We’re not gonna cry about it. I know there are some parents that would like to see us playing in 3A. The 4A playoffs are a bit tougher, but we competed. It’s not like we’re dying not to stay there.”