District 6 is in a subregional set-up with District 9 for Class AAA football this year, but each of those districts still will crown their own champion.
According to District 6 chairmain Ray Wotkowski, the districts decided earlier this week to each hold its own championship in the classification instead of utilizing a two-round interdistrict tournament. The District 6 and 9 champions will then meet for the right to face the District 4 champ in Week 13.
The latter method, used when the districts were combined in the 1990s, would have included the top four finishers of the seven Class AAA teams in the two districts.
The subregional was PIAA mandated. District 6 lost its automatic bid to the state playoffs when it allowed Hollidaysburg to join the WPIAL, leaving it with three Class AAA schools.
The positives to the decision are there isn't any chance that Johnstown will be traveling to Bradford for a semifinal game and, some would contend, that the districts get to maintain their own identity by crowning a district champ.
On the other hand, it's conceivable that the sixth-best out of seven teams will be alive in Week 12 while the third-best didn't even get a chance at the playoffs, because only the top two teams advance. If the top three teams are from the same district, it gets penalized.
District 5 and District 8 had the same arrangement in Class AA the last couple of years. District 5 is now back with District 6 in double-A, where its three members are competing for eight slots in an interdistrict tournament.
WPIAL playoff berths, by the way, are awarded solely on finishing in the top four of the section. Power points are only a tiebreaker.
Friday day lights?
Bishop Carroll is playing at Westmont Hilltop today at 4 p.m. No, it's not a junior high or JV game.
In observance with the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur next week, Westmont and Johnstown are playing on Thursday. Westmont usually plays home games on Saturday, so it asked Carroll if it could move their Week 2 game up a day to have six days to get ready for Johnstown.
Westmont's Price Field, though, doesn't have lights, necessitating the Friday afternoon football.
Brumbaugh bomber
South Fayette's Christian Brumbaugh, one of the top passers in the WPIAL last season, made it onto the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's preseason Fabulous 22 list.
Brumbaugh's uncle, Rod, is the Tussey Mountain AD.
Upon review
It was written in a preview story last week that Hollidaysburg elected to leave the Mid-Penn Conference. Hollidaysburg athletic director Dean Rossi points out that the Mid-Penn voted the Tigers out after his school dropped to Class AAA.
Cmor can be reached at 946-7440 or pcmor@altoonamirror.com.
