Uniontown, LH in same boys section next season
Boys and girls basketball section alignments were announced Thursday by the WPIAL and, yes, Uniontown and Laurel Highlands were both placed in the same boys section. So after two years of scheduling the cross-town rivalry as home-and-home exhibitions, one of the WPIAL’s best rivalries will again carry section weight.
Also moving into the new Section 3-AAA are Southmoreland, after a two-year run in Class AA that included a WPIAL playoff win last season, and Ringgold, which moves down from Class AAAA. The rest of Section 3-AAA includes Belle Vernon, Derry, Greensburg Salem, Mount Pleasant and Yough.
Meanwhile, the Uniontown girls are moving up to Class AAAA after two seasons in Class AAA that included the team’s first-ever trip to the PIAA playoffs.
Coach Jason Winfrey’s Lady Raiders will move into Section 1-AAAA, where they will face a pair of Fayette County rivals in Albert Gallatin and Connellsville.
Other Section 1-AAAA members are Westmoreland County’s Hempfield, Kiski Area, Latrobe, Norwin and Penn-Trafford.
The boys teams from Albert Gallatin and Connellsville remain in Section 1-AAAA and will oppose the same group of Westmoreland County teams as the girls, plus Franklin Regional.
Southmoreland’s boys join the Lady Scots in Class AAA. Coach Brian Pritts’ team remains in Section 3-AAA with Laurel Highlands, Belle Vernon, Franklin Regional, Greensburg Salem, Mount Pleasant, Ringgold and Yough. Waynesburg Central’s girls team is the only local team in Section 4-AAA.
The boys teams from Brownsville and Waynesburg Central dropped into Section 5-AA, where they will meet Beth-Center, Burgettstown, Charleroi, Chartiers-Houston, Monessen and Washington.
The only two local girls teams competing in Class AA are Beth-Center and Brownsville in Section 5-AA.
Frazier returns to Class A girls competition after a couple of season in Class AA.
The Lady Commodores are in Section 3-A, where they will oppose Avella, Clairton, Duquesne, Monessen, Serra Catholic and Trinity Christian. Frazier’s boys team returns to Section 3-A, but will face Avella, Bentworth, Clairton, Serra Catholic and Trinity Christian.
Section 2-A is the same for boys and girls teams.
Gone from last year is Avella and the new Section 2-A has only six teams: California, Carmichaels, Geibel Catholic, Jefferson-Morgan, Mapletown and West Greene.