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Aliquippa Football Wins Lawsuit

Ron Burgundy

Ron Burgundy

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This had made national news. Aliquippa high school has Class 2A enrollment, the second to smallest classification but had been playing two classes up in 4A (and still dominating). Due to the PIAA's competitive balance rule they were going to force them to play up three classes in 5A, the next to largest classification. Dis tew much.

Little old Aliquippa has more graduates in the NFL Hall Of Fame than any other high school.
 
Brutal, in a time where most schools want to play down or they complain about where they are ranked.

I'm always for the underdog



Salute the nation
 
Interesting. The school district in the South Hills of Pittsburgh that I live in (neighborhood of Justin Watson) is 5A. Our school campus somewhat resembles a small college campus. They’ve been in the championship game almost yearly for the past 6 years
 
Good for them. In Ohio we have competitive balance. Total males in your top three grades then add in any male students outside your school districts normal geographic boundaries. The school my son played for and now coaches at moved up from D4 to D3 (seven divisions in Ohio) with the latest CB enrollment numbers. I believe they review it every 3 years. When I played HS football in Pa. we didn’t even have state champions.
 
Irwin20 said:
Good for them. In Ohio we have competitive balance. Total males in your top three grades then add in any male students outside your school districts normal geographic boundaries. The school my son played for and now coaches at moved up from D4 to D3 (seven divisions in Ohio) with the latest CB enrollment numbers. I believe they review it every 3 years. When I played HS football in Pa. we didn’t even have state champions.
Click to expand...
Yeah, PA changed the system about 30 years ago. PIAA runs the whole state but in the southwest we have always had the WPIAL. It used to be if you won the WPIAL that was the end of it but now the WPIAL champions go to the PIAA state quarterfinals.
Aliquippa has Class 2A enrollment but had voluntarily played "up" in 3A for years. The PIAA moved them to 4A for "competitive balance" and they still won a state championship. Being forced into 5A though they'd be playing teams with literally four times as many players on their rosters. Their starters can hang with anybody but their backup for a 300 lb senior lineman is a 180 lb sophomore while a 5A team's backup is another 300 lb senior. Many of Aliquippa's players play offense and defense both which a 5A team doesn't have to do.
Aliquippa is a poor and largely black community and it's been noticed that a mostly white school in central PA, Southern Columbia, still plays in 2A despite winning a crap-ton of state championships and the PIAA doesn't lay the "competitive balance" thing on them and force them to play up a class.
 
Ron Burgundy said:
Yeah, PA changed the system about 30 years ago. PIAA runs the whole state but in the southwest we have always had the WPIAL. It used to be if you won the WPIAL that was the end of it but now the WPIAL champions go to the PIAA state quarterfinals.
Aliquippa has Class 2A enrollment but had voluntarily played "up" in 3A for years. The PIAA moved them to 4A for "competitive balance" and they still won a state championship. Being forced into 5A though they'd be playing teams with literally four times as many players on their rosters. Their starters can hang with anybody but their backup for a 300 lb senior lineman is a 180 lb sophomore while a 5A team's backup is another 300 lb senior. Many of Aliquippa's players play offense and defense both which a 5A team doesn't have to do.
Aliquippa is a poor and largely black community and it's been noticed that a mostly white school in central PA, Southern Columbia, still plays in 2A despite winning a crap-ton of state championships and the PIAA doesn't lay the "competitive balance" thing on them and force them to play up a class.
Click to expand...
WTH? How in the heck can you consider a 2A enrollment school playing in an 5A enrollment division for “competitive balance”? It doesn’t matter if the 2A school has all Olympic level athletes, it’s based upon student/athlete enrollment. Gheez, someone is getting rich and it isn’t the schools.
 
Ike Kelly said:
WTH? How in the heck can you consider a 2A enrollment school playing in an 5A enrollment division for “competitive balance”? It doesn’t matter if the 2A school has all Olympic level athletes, it’s based upon student/athlete enrollment. Gheez, someone is getting rich and it isn’t the schools.
Click to expand...
It's based on a success formula and transfers, which Aliquippa had enough success points and the PIAA said they exceeded the transfer limit. In most years they'd still probably win 5A, often in dominating fashion. The team is loaded with talent.
 
Ike Kelly said:
WTH? How in the heck can you consider a 2A enrollment school playing in an 5A enrollment division for “competitive balance”? It doesn’t matter if the 2A school has all Olympic level athletes, it’s based upon student/athlete enrollment. Gheez, someone is getting rich and it isn’t the schools.
Click to expand...
SteelerFan448 said:
It's based on a success formula and transfers, which Aliquippa had enough success points and the PIAA said they exceeded the transfer limit. In most years they'd still probably win 5A, often in dominating fashion. The team is loaded with talent.
Click to expand...
Three points regarding transfers. Aliquippa has shown that many of their transfers are cases where someone moved to another school district for a few weeks and then moved back due to, shall we say, "unstable" housing situations. Further, none of the players who transferred were starters or made an impact on the team.
Second, Aliquippa's school system sucks so no one is going to transfer there on purpose. If you want to transfer for athletic intent you could go to neighboring Central Valley where you get a better education and their football team is nearly as dominant.
Third, the aforementioned Southern Columbia school district is a vo-tech school, actively and illegally recruits players, even more dominant in football than Aliquippa, but they are largely white and located near the state capitol of Harrisburg but they mysteriously get a pass on "competitive balance" and still play in 2A.
 
Ron Burgundy said:

This had made national news. Aliquippa high school has Class 2A enrollment, the second to smallest classification but had been playing two classes up in 4A (and still dominating). Due to the PIAA's competitive balance rule they were going to force them to play up three classes in 5A, the next to largest classification. Dis tew much.

Little old Aliquippa has more graduates in the NFL Hall Of Fame than any other high school.
Click to expand...

I didn't realize that. Ty Law, Mike Ditka and Darrelle Revis. Three doesn't seem like a lot, but its 3 more than what my high school and thousands of others produced.
 
Last edited:
Stewey said:
I didn't realize that. Ty Law, Mike Ditka and Darrelle Revis. Three doesn't seem like a lot, but its 3 more than what my high school and thousands of others produced.
Click to expand...
Also Jonathan Baldwin, Sean Gilbert, and Tommie Campbell who are not in the HOF but made the NFL.
Tony Dorsett and Paul Posluszny lived in the Aliquippa zip code but played at the neighboring Hopewell school district.
 
Ron Burgundy said:
Also Jonathan Baldwin, Sean Gilbert, and Tommie Campbell who are not in the HOF but made the NFL.
Tony Dorsett and Paul Posluszny lived in the Aliquippa zip code but played at the neighboring Hopewell school district.
Click to expand...
Also the fact that Western Pa in general was HOF QB rich. Joe Namath from Beaver Falls, Goerge Blanda, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas.
Lest we forget another great RB aside from Dorsett... Curtis Martin.

I'd bet Western Pa has put more people in the HOF than any other region in the country.

Western Pa. is the birthplace of pro football, so it's fitting.

Some Ohioans won't hesitate to challenge me on that, they'll say it was Canton, Ohio.
Wrong. Canton was the birthplace of the NFL.
Pro football was born in Western Pa.
 
Last edited:
Stewey said:
Also the fact that Western Pa in general was HOF QB rich. Joe Namath from Beaver Falls, Goerge Blanda, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas.
Lest we forget another great RB aside from Dorsett... Curtis Martin.

I'd bet Western Pa has put more people in the HOF than any other area in the country.

Western Pa. is the birthplace of pro football, so it's fitting.

Some people won't hesitate to challenge me on that, they'll say it was Canton, Ohio.
Wrong. Canton, Ohio was the birthplace of the NFL.
Pro football was born in Western Pa.
Click to expand...
Which is exactly what Art 2 emphasized with the 2026 Draft media release. The Allegheny Valley with all the mills on the river is the birthplace of American football. 2026 will also be the nation’s 250th birthday, so all of that will be incorporated in the draft theme.
 
Don't punish Aliquippa for being consistently strong. It's up to the other 4A schools to raise their game.
 
Ron Burgundy said:
Three points regarding transfers. Aliquippa has shown that many of their transfers are cases where someone moved to another school district for a few weeks and then moved back due to, shall we say, "unstable" housing situations. Further, none of the players who transferred were starters or made an impact on the team.
Second, Aliquippa's school system sucks so no one is going to transfer there on purpose. If you want to transfer for athletic intent you could go to neighboring Central Valley where you get a better education and their football team is nearly as dominant.
Third, the aforementioned Southern Columbia school district is a vo-tech school, actively and illegally recruits players, even more dominant in football than Aliquippa, but they are largely white and located near the state capitol of Harrisburg but they mysteriously get a pass on "competitive balance" and still play in 2A.
Click to expand...
Southern Columbia is one thing, but also schools like Bishop McDevitt which is a non-boundary school received the same technology used in the NFL for in-game adjustments. Here is the link to the story. How is this allowed PIAA? Want to talk about a competitive advantage in addition to poaching local talent?

 
Ron Burgundy said:
Yeah, PA changed the system about 30 years ago. PIAA runs the whole state but in the southwest we have always had the WPIAL. It used to be if you won the WPIAL that was the end of it but now the WPIAL champions go to the PIAA state quarterfinals.
Aliquippa has Class 2A enrollment but had voluntarily played "up" in 3A for years. The PIAA moved them to 4A for "competitive balance" and they still won a state championship. Being forced into 5A though they'd be playing teams with literally four times as many players on their rosters. Their starters can hang with anybody but their backup for a 300 lb senior lineman is a 180 lb sophomore while a 5A team's backup is another 300 lb senior. Many of Aliquippa's players play offense and defense both which a 5A team doesn't have to do.
Aliquippa is a poor and largely black community and it's been noticed that a mostly white school in central PA, Southern Columbia, still plays in 2A despite winning a crap-ton of state championships and the PIAA doesn't lay the "competitive balance" thing on them and force them to play up a class.
Click to expand...

For someone outside of PA, this explanation helped me understand the background color to this a lot better. Thanks for that.
 
Stewey said:
I didn't realize that. Ty Law, Mike Ditka and Darrelle Revis. Three doesn't seem like a lot, but its 3 more than what my high school and thousands of others produced.
Click to expand...
Considering there are only like 35 college teams with more than 3 pro football hall of famers, its mind boggling.. no other high school has 3 iirc...
 
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