There isn't anything to explain, or at least not to anyone with a functioning brain. People were talking about a group of kids. There have been, in fact, a bunch of them, far more than just the three that they are allowed. The fact that your first thought went where it did says way more about you than it does about anyone else.
Aliquippa heading to 5A
- Thread starter Sean Miller Fan
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There isn't anything to explain, or at least not to anyone with a functioning brain. People were talking about a group of kids. There have been, in fact, a bunch of them, far more than just the three that they are allowed. The fact that your first thought went where it did says way more about you than it does about anyone else.
I think it's really hard to hide those guys over the past 2 years. The PIAA combs through the rosters like Trump's accountants lol. All of those state eligibility forms that every AD has to turn into the state must be in sync with the rosters that the state receives.
Now, does PR or NA or whomever get non-athletic transfers - yes - all the time. Do some of these schools tell a kid to sit a year because it will bump them up - yes. I know of one school who did that. Big schools like NA and PR can do that easier then some 1A thru 3A school where they might not have the roster size to afford it.
IMHO, district 7 should get split up. I would take all of the Fayette and Greene County schools and combine them with Somerset County. I would take a hard look at Indiana and Lawrence counties too.
Schools like Albert Gallatin and Connellsville aren't very competitive in the WPIAL but they could compete with a lot of other schools around the state.
I mean the only way possible that those rich, transient school districts dont get hit with this transfer rule is if they tell the kids they can't play. Because those schools have to be getting at least 3 move-ins per year of kids whose parents took a promotion to move to Pittsburgh and just happen to play football.
It doesn't matter for the 6A schools.
P-R has been dropping in enrollment that's why they moved to 5A.
How many people with no connection to the Aliquippa area say “Let’s move to Aliquippa”? It is one of the roughest areas in Western PA.
Most of these kids come from unstable homes and are struggling to get by. A stable family with money is going to move into a better school district that has good academics and athletics. Wealthier families just know how to manipulate the system (i.e. enroll before high school or get held back intentionally).
Most of these kids come from unstable homes and are struggling to get by. A stable family with money is going to move into a better school district that has good academics and athletics. Wealthier families just know how to manipulate the system (i.e. enroll before high school or get held back intentionally).
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Why should they be AAA? They have 30 kids on the team and a single A enrollment. Also I heard the coach on the radio this morning. The "transfers" didn't even play in the playoffs.
This Just because a kid transfers, and he plays a sport, doesn't necessarily mean he actually is impactful. I have told this story a few times, I won't mention the name to protect the innocent, but when I was in HS, we had a kid transfer from a nearby school. His brother was a big time player who went on to play D1 and was a good player. The kid who transferred, um....he can play basketball, albeit not at a very high level. He had no real impact, but the WPIAL ruled him ineligible.
IMO, you pay school taxes, provided your kid is academic good standing, he/she should be allowed to play whatever sport they want. End of story.
And as far as this "transfer rules", again as discussed in these transient schools both in the lower and upper ends of the income spectrum, to me there are "transfers" and there are "impact transfers".
I think some of the rich districts don't get hit with the transfer rule because they frankly aren't as successful as Aliquippa. Isn't there both a performance requirement and number of transfers requirement? I thought you could have 50 transfers, but if you don't advance far in the state playoffs, you don't get forced to play up.
I went to Catholic Schools and sent my son there. Fully in favor of separate championships between private and public schools but don’t know what to do with charters. I see them becoming more prevalent in huge metro area like Philly.
Moving the Quips up class strikes me as lunacy.
They already play up by two classes. If you move to there to play sports the so what! You have a ton of cards already stacked against you so why punish.
I hope they sue and stop this idiocy
You said, “Their football machine should get chucked into the river.” What good will that accomplish? At least some of these kids are getting scholarships to play in college D1, D2.
The word on Zmijanic was he was just "a coach" and not the mentor/father figure type to help the players in life outside of football. Don't know much about Warfield but he's a police chief or something like that and seems like an impressive guy in his interviews. Strikes me as someone who is there for the kids.
They are being moved up to 3A but what's interesting is their enrollment is projected to be 1A in this upcoming cycle. This will be overruled because the already established success points earned at 2A.
The only reason they weren't moved up was they didn't have the transfers. So they didn't earn enough success points.
Transfer appears to become a rich poor thing. If your parents are rich enough to move anywhere they want and you are a good athlete your family moves to PR or NA. If your family is poor and you are a good athlete they look at the situation and hope you can play for Aliquippa.
Shouldn't matter. Look eventually it comes down to a safety issue and not having enough players to field the team. All this classification garbage should come down to the school enrollment numbers. This is just how I feel. If they maul teams every game so be it.
Not sure on that. Belle Vernon's (middle class) best 2 players were transfers from Monessen and someone on this board stated that Monessen has an 8th grader better than both who will possibly transfer to Belle Vernon next year.
If we were in 4 classes, they would play up in 2A which is the current 3A.
If they played 1A, 75% of the teams would forfeit against them just like teams did vs. Farrell.
And, if people are so scared about "safety," I hope none of those kids have aspirations to play in college. The 1st day pads go on they instantly are playing against grown men. Spare me the safety issue vs. the current group of quips.
It is a bit stunning for a 1A kid to run into a larger, faster player. I wouldn't call it a safety issue as much as a "holy crap" issue.
Here's the thing.. The Quips grow up playing schools 2-3x their size and dominate them. They are acclimated to it. They are different, exception to the rule.
I agree. It's very different. If you're playing 4A, Aliquippa shouldn't scare you and you better be able to handle their size.
Didn’t they just win the state championship ship in 4A? Obviously no one in 4A is handling their size.
Well no, but that comment came from an earlier one about safety. There shouldn't be anyone in 4A that is scared of a team with some size.
Jersey Shore handled their size pretty well and that with a bunch of guys who were not big at all. Their biggest lineman was maybe 240 lbs. As I said earlier, the Aliquippa guys are big, not powerful and they don't move particularly well. It's one of the reasons why I was stunned Belle Vernon lost to them. That team had a big (for an average HS) and athletic offensive line that just moved DL from very talented teams around with ease.
Back to Jersey Shore, they actually came out with a brilliant game plan and completely shut the Quips down. They also moved the ball effectively. As we see in sports, they couldn't maintain that level of play (or style) throughout the entire time and Aliquippa's talent and making big plays in big moments stood out. The better team won and while they wouldn't go undefeated in 5A, I have no doubt Aliquippa could've contended for both a WPIAL and PIAA title. The concern is there is so much depth in 5A, it is tough to go up against that level of competition every week rather than run through a cupcake conference and only play the big boys during the playoffs.
Comparative scores in HS are pretty accurate and using BV blowing out P-T and Aliquippa blowing out BV, I think there's a good chance Aliquippa would have won 5A this year.
They are until you see Belle Vernon blew out McKeesport with ease and Aliquippa barely got by McKeesport.
The PIAA needs to stay out of the personal decision's that families make. Families move for many different reasons, are some related to athletic intent? I am sure there are, but an overwhelming majority are not. Shame on the PIAA for over reaching with its authority.
Aliquippa Football To Fight To Keep Spot In Class 4A
Aliquippa has long been a successful football program.pittsburgh.cbslocal.com
If their appeal is not successful, they are considering dropping out of the PIAA.
The PIAA has to be really careful here because they're probably going to become a national story for reasons they don't want to. I understand there is a rule in place but the rule adversely affects a very small, very low income African-American community with a low home ownership rate, meaning they have high rates of kids moving in and out compared to other communities.
I think the PIAA has to do a little homework to find out who exactly are these kids that are transferring and why are they transferring. Are they getting star players from all over Beaver County or are these kids just roster fillers? The article said if you have more than 3 transfers in a 2 year period, you are considered under the competitive balance rule. 3??? Only 3??? Communities like Aliquippa are always going to have 3 in a 2 year period. Perhaps the solution to this is for Aliquippa to only accept 2 transfers but how is that fair to a kid whose family legitimately moved to Aliquippa from another local town?
Meanwhile, Pine-Richland has had D1 players transfer in and they actually got to move down after winning states. And after Berwick won a bunch of state titles in the 90s, they all of a sudden started sucking and neighboring Southern Columbia basically hasnt lost a game since they started sucking, really makes you wonder what's going on up there....but the PIAA can't be bothered to look into it.
Did the PIAA do anything to Gateway High School? Nope, they let them go and continue to do the same "shady" things most people knew about. I'm sure that it was just a coincidence during the Terry Smith era at Gateway, that the schools football program had a large level of football success.
Picking and choosing which schools to punish is wrong. Punish them all or stay out of it.
I know a teacher at Gateway and he told me it was well known that those kids were put up in an apartment complex paid for by the boosters.
I am not so sure McKeesport wouldn't have won 5A. I mean didnt they win 5A like 2-3 years ago? Or maybe they lost in the final.
Terry Smith wasn't that good at cheating, though. What did they win?
Here's the thing, the PIAA recognized that it was difficult to prevent that sort of cheating so they changed the rules. They aren't punishing Aliquippa for the transfers. They're just putting them in a place that makes sense given the number of players coming into the district to play football. If anyone is getting cheated it is the surrounding districts that are losing talented players, making it difficult to compete.
Yeah that's the point I was trying make earlier -- there is a performance requirement as well as transfer requirement. Despite alleged transfers, Terry Smith never won a WPIAL championship, let alone states. I don't think the PIAA cares unless you dominate the state tourney, and there a very few schools that fall into that category.
It's not that they don't care. I think it's just tough to regulate so they made the rule.
I'm all for Aliquippa taking care of itself. the PIAA is dysfunctional and their regular section realignments is ruining Western PA football. It's probably the worst run state high school sports governance board in the nation. I wish the entire WPIAL would get out.Aliquippa Football To Fight To Keep Spot In Class 4A
Aliquippa has long been a successful football program.
If their appeal is not successful, they are considering dropping out of the PIAA.
The PIAA has to be really careful here because they're probably going to become a national story for reasons they don't want to. I understand there is a rule in place but the rule adversely affects a very small, very low income African-American community with a low home ownership rate, meaning they have high rates of kids moving in and out compared to other communities.
I think the PIAA has to do a little homework to find out who exactly are these kids that are transferring and why are they transferring. Are they getting star players from all over Beaver County or are these kids just roster fillers? The article said if you have more than 3 transfers in a 2 year period, you are considered under the competitive balance rule. 3??? Only 3??? Communities like Aliquippa are always going to have 3 in a 2 year period. Perhaps the solution to this is for Aliquippa to only accept 2 transfers but how is that fair to a kid whose family legitimately moved to Aliquippa from another local town?
Meanwhile, Pine-Richland has had D1 players transfer in and they actually got to move down after winning states. And after Berwick won a bunch of state titles in the 90s, they all of a sudden started sucking and neighboring Southern Columbia basically hasnt lost a game since they started sucking, really makes you wonder what's going on up there....but the PIAA can't be bothered to look into it.
