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AG, LH, Uniontown may be in same boys basketball section

By Rob Burchianti rburchianti@heraldstandard.Com 5 min read
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A dream boys basketball section for Fayette County fans would have Uniontown, Laurel Highlands and Albert Gallatin altogether and that is a strong possibility next season.

The enrollment figures have been totaled and the PIAA has released the new classifications that will be in effect for the 2022-23 high school sports year.

In the second of a three-part series, today we’ll look at the impact the upcoming realignment, which takes place every two years, will have on the local winter sports season.

While sections and conferences have yet to be determined, it is known what classification each team will play in and the numbers for the Mustangs and Colonials will have them both down from 5A to 4A where the Red Raiders will remain.

“It makes it good for here in town with the rivalry. Us, Uniontown and LH will all be in the same section I would assume,” AG coach Shea Fleenor said. “It’s going to be interesting to see what the section ends up as. Belle Vernon is staying in 4A. Elizabeth Forward is staying in 4A. I would assume that the five of us are in a section together.

“There could be teams that elect to play up also. We’ll have to wait and see.”

Fleenor assessed AG, LH and Uniontown in looking ahead to the 2022-23 season.

“Us and Uniontown right now are in the same position, really young and getting better. We’ll both return a lot of guys so that’s going to create some really good games over the next few years. Those games are always heated and now they’ll have even more meaning to them.

“Me and coach Kezmarsky have spoken the last couple days since we found out. Obviously, we’re both excited about that. We had a great game against them earlier in the season and we have another one coming down the road that I hope is just as exciting for everyone to watch.

“Obviously, LH, what they are right now is a really good basketball team, if not the best team in western Pa., regardless of classification. They’re going to return the nucleus of that group next year. So us and Uniontown have something ahead of us to chase.

“I know Belle Vernon loses Devin Whitlock to graduation this year but Quinton Martin will be back and he’s having a good season and I expect them to be really good again. It looks like it could be a lot tougher section than the one we’re currently in as far as top-to-bottom competitiveness.

“I’m excited about it.”

Remaining in 5A will be Connellsville and Ringgold. Staying in 4A along with Uniontown and EF will be Southmoreland although both Mount Pleasant and Yough will drop to 3A.

Remaining in 3A will be Brownsville, Charleroi and Waynesburg Central with Beth-Center dropping down to 2A where they’ll join Carmichaels, Frazier and Bentworth.

Three local teams will shift from 2A to 1A: Monessen, Jefferson-Morgan and California.

“We’re an A team and we expected to be down,” Greyhounds coach Dan Bosnic said. “Looking at it, we expect to be in the same section we were previously in. We’re obviously very familiar with those teams. California and Jefferson-Morgan are both moving back down so we expect to have a similar landscape in terms of the teams we played in the past.”

That section, 2-A, currently includes Geibel Catholic, Mapletown and West Greene. Bishop Canevin will move up to 2A.

“We’re familiar with all those teams and our kids will look forward to playing them again,” Bosnic said of a possible return to Section 2-A. “We’re kind of looking forward to coming back to Single-A because we have a good group of young kids right now and another group coming up under them that we expect to be good as well.”

There are six area girls basketball teams that will be on the move, most notably Uniontown and Laurel Highlands who will move from 5A to 4A.

“I kind of expected it because you could see the numbers aren’t as high any more,” Lady Raiders coach Penny Kezmarsky said. ” I think it’ll be good for us. We were on the lower end of the 5A enrollment number the last two years. It’ll be nice to play in 4A against teams more our size. We play a lot of 4A schools in our exhibition games.

“I will be nice to potentially still have Laurel Highlands in our same section. Even if we weren’t, we’d arrange to play each other twice a year anyhow. Ringgold dropped down to 4A from our current section as well.”

Staying in Class 5A will be Connellsville and Albert Gallatin.

Remaining in 4A are Belle Vernon, Elizabeth Forward and Southmoreland while Mount Pleasant and Yough will drop to 3A.

Brownsville, Charleroi and Waynesburg Central will all still be at 3A but Bentworth will bump down to 2A where it will join Beth-Center, California, Carmichaels and Frazier.

Staying at 1A will be Geibel Catholic, Jefferson-Morgan, Mapletown, Monessen and West Greene.

In wrestling, Connellsville and Ringgold will stay at 3A while Albert Gallatin and Belle Vernon will both drop to 2A. Waynesburg Central again has 2A enrollment but is expected to again wrestle up at the 3A level.

Remaining at 2A are Bentworth, Beth-Center, Frazier, Jefferson-Morgan, West Greene, Elizabeth Forward, Mount Pleasant, Southmoreland and Yough.

Boys and girls swimming mirror each other as Connellsville will drop from 3A to 2A where Laurel Highlands, Uniontown, Mount Pleasant, Belle Vernon, Ringgold and Elizabeth Forward remain.

Rifle, which is all one classification, will again include Waynesburg Central and West Greene.

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