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By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic won an appeal with the PIAA on Wednesday that will allow the Marauders to drop back to Class 1A in high school football starting this fall.
Four football programs, Villa Maria field hockey and Springfield Township boys soccer all had their classification appeals heard at Wednesday's PIAA meeting, and Bishop Guilfoyle's appeal was the only one that was successful.
Steelton-Highspire (1A to 2A), Aliquippa (4A to 5A) and Wyomissing (3A to 4A) all lost their appeals in high school football to try and avoid moving up in classification due to the PIAA success formula that results when a team compiles six success points and has three or more transfers in a two-year cycle.
Bishop Guilfoyle was moved up from 1A to 2A after winning the PIAA Class 1A championship two years ago but was in line to move back to 1A this cycle after compiling only two success points when the threshold to keep a team up is three points.
However, the PIAA recently notified Bishop Guilfoyle it believed the Marauders had three or more transfers on its roster, which would keep BG in 2A. That was what BG appealed on Wednesday.
"We are a single-A school enrollment, so this is something we had hoped for," Bishop Guilfoyle football coach Justin Wheeler said. "Like I said two years ago, we would abide by whatever the PIAA decided as we did two years ago, but this time, when we got our notice, we just wanted to talk about our transfers. That was the reason we appealed this time, because we believed there were some issues with the transfers, so we presented that case, and they agreed."
Two years ago, the majority of teams that appealed being moved up won, but the PIAA changed the language to make appeals more direct. The only way to win a success formula appeal is to prove a team did not reach the success-point threshold or prove it did not have the required number of transfers. According to the PIAA, Bishop Guilfoyle did the latter on Wednesday.
"(BG principal) Mike Cacciotti and the BG group made a compelling argument that was successful in reducing the number of athletes considered transfers by the PIAA board," said Northern Bedford athletic director Jeff Batzel, who serves as the junior high/middle school representative for the PIAA and was part of Wednesday's meeting.
The Marauders won the District 6 Class 2A championship in 2022 before losing to eventual PIAA champion Southern Columbia in the state playoffs. This past season, BG suffered several injuries throughout the year and finished 6-5 with a loss in the first round of the District 6 playoffs.
"We're in the low 80s for male enrollment, so to get a team and compete depth-wise, we're Class 1A," Wheeler said. "We saw that this year when we had injuries, we didn't have any depth. I think we are where we're supposed to be. No matter where we were, we were going to do our best, but we're happy we're back where our enrollment says we should be."
Cambria Heights, the defending District 6 Class 1A champion, is moving up to Class 2A due to higher enrollment numbers.
"We are thankful to the PIAA for taking the time to understand the details of our situation," Bishop Guilfoyle athletic director Joe Landolfi said. "We appreciate their decision."
SUBHED: Cross country changes
Penn Cambria and Bishop Guilfoyle terminated their cooperative sponsorship of high school boys and girls cross country, and in a follow-up action, Bishop Guilfoyle and Hollidaysburg were approved to begin a co-op in both junior high and high school cross country that will not affect classification.