WPIAL releases conference alignment for football
AG, LH, Uniontown placed in Section 3-4A
The WPIAL released its conference alignment for the upcoming and 2027 football seasons Thursday morning, and the four Fayette County schools who had played an independent schedule in recent years, learned their opponents in league play for the next two years.
Albert Gallatin, Brownsville, Connellsville and Uniontown had all decided to leave District 7, but only in football, as the schools competed in all other WPIAL sports.
The Colonials were the first team to experiment with leaving the district, as they did in 2019, and have fielded competitive teams since then, which culminated in a 10-0 record last season, but the playoffs were not a possibility.
The Red Raiders followed in 2020 before Brownsville declined to play in the WPIAL in 2022, and Connellsville made the move in 2024.
Albert Gallatin and Uniontown will return to play in Class 4A, as the two will battle county-rival Laurel Highlands, Ringgold and South Fayette in Section 3.
The Mustangs and Frazier were the two Fayette County teams who stayed in the WPIAL.
Uniontown head coach Tim Bukowski was looking for the Red Raiders to be placed in a conference with local teams, and the coach got his wish Thursday morning.
“Hopefully now we’ll get in a conference with some local teams and have some good rivalry games,” said Bukowski in a Feb. 3 article that was published in the 缅北禁地. “I was hoping for 3A but we’re going to be a 4A team based on our freshmen class. We have a really big freshmen group, over 250 students, so they kind of bumped us up. If you would’ve based it off of last year’s class we would’ve been triple-A, but we’ll be 4A.”
Even with his team playing in Class 4A, Bukowski had seen an added level of excitement among the team.
“The numbers are definitely going to be up,” Bukowski said. “We had 42 players last year. We’re expecting over 50. We started weight-lifting and we’re getting over 30 kids now, then middle school basketball finished today so we’ll get a handful from there, then another handful from the high school (basketball) team.
“The numbers are definitely growing. I think that there’s excitement. We put a post out on a group chat. The kids are excited about going back (into the WPIAL) and trying to compete. We have work to do but that’s where we want to be.”
Class 4A is the second smallest classification in terms of teams with 16. Class 6A, which is the largest division based on number of students, only fields seven teams.
Connellsville will compete in Section 1-5A against the likes of Fox Chapel, Franklin Regional, Gateway, Greater Latrobe, Penn-Trafford and Woodland Hills.
Brownsville was placed in Section 2-2A. The Falcons will play Apollo-Ridge, Charleroi, East Allegheny, Ligonier Valley, South Allegheny and Steel Valley.
Brownsville and Uniontown will meet again in “The National Road Rumble” in Week Zero. The nickname was coined last season by Red Raiders public address announcer Joshua Scully.
“We did schedule Brownsville so we’re going to have that Route 40 rivalry game for Week Zero,” Bukowski said. “As for the rest of the schedule, the WPIAL had us put down five teams for our exhibition games, so I was able to request five teams. There’s no guarantees. Depending on the size of our conference, we might get three or four exhibition games. We obviously are hoping to get a couple of those teams on our schedule.”
Frazier was placed in a meat grinder of a conference last year with WPIAL and PIAA champion Clairton, Jeannette, Leechburg and Greensburg Central Catholic, but the Commodores were able to qualify for the Class A playoffs and were the lone local team to win a postseason game.
Frazier has been moved to what will most likely be named the Tri-County South Conference. Joining the Commodores are Avella, Beth-Center, California, Carmichaels, Jefferson-Morgan, Mapletown and West Greene.
Belle Vernon missed the playoffs for the first time in 17 years last season, but the Leopards have moved down to Class 3A. Belle Vernon was placed in Section 1 with Derry, Elizabeth Forward, Greensburg Salem, Mount Pleasant, Southmoreland and Waynesburg Central.