At the end of 2015, the PIAA approved the reclassification for high school football in Pennsylvania from a 4 classification system to a 6 classification system. This reclassification was proposed in order to level the playing field between lesser populated and more populated schools within the same classification. The addition of 2 additional classifications means that the size discrepancies between the largest and smallest schools in the same classification will necessarily lessen.
In term of the Mid-Penn Conference Colonial Division, the following changes in classification will occur between the 2015 football season and the 2016 football season -
Mifflin County High School - AAAA to AAAAAA
Waynesboro Area High School - AAAA to AAAAA
Big Spring High School - AAA to AAAA
Greencastle Antrim High School - AAA to AAAA
James Buchanan High School - AAA to AAAA
Northern York High School - AAA to AAAA
Shippensburg Area High School - AAA to AAAA
West Perry High School - AAA to AAAA
Also a slightly less direct effect can be seen the conference and division alignments that have been occurring around the PIAA football landscape, including the Colonial Division where East Pennsboro exited and Mifflin County and West Perry have been introduced for the current football season.
More minor effects of the realignment are that the overall season with playoffs will be reduced by 1 week and teams may choose to play 1 or 2 scrimmage games prior to the start of the season.
Not only will this realignment affect the Conference and Division levels for the 2016 high school football seasons, but it will also have a District level impact.
District 3 - the home of the Mid-Conference will now have the following number of teams in each class -
6A - 17
5A - 29
4A - 21
3A - 15
2A - 7
1A - 5
The changes in classifications and their implications for the District 3 high school football bracket and the PIAA high school football bracket will be discussed indepth later this season, so stay tuned.
