High school football notebook: Altoona could seek full WPIAL membership in all sports

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, October 11, 2017 | 5:06 PM

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If Altoona gets its wish, the school will join the WPIAL in more sports than just football.

Administrators from the Blair County school district are scheduled to meet with the WPIAL Board of Directors at Monday's monthly meeting in Green Tree. Altoona has played WPIAL football since 2010 as an associate member, and now will ask for membership in all sports, Altoona athletic director Phil Riccio said.

“It's been an outstanding relationship,” Riccio said. “I think our schools have built some pretty good bonds. From our perspective, the only league we're really in is for football. We need to do something to expand that so all of our student-athletes have a league to play in and have the opportunity to compete in meaningful games.”

The school's other sports compete in District 6, but there's no regular-season section or league structure for Altoona. In boys and girls basketball, for example, Altoona plays a 22-game independent schedule that already includes a number of WPIAL schools.

For now, there's no guarantee the WPIAL admits them.

“We told them we're going to provide them an audience,” WPIAL executive director Tim O'Malley said. “The principal, A.D. and superintendent have been invited and accepted the invitation to come (Monday) and petition for that.”

One obvious drawback could be the added travel for current WPIAL teams. As it stands now, football teams in the Class 6A Southeastern Conference must travel to Altoona once every two years. Peters Township traveled more than 250 miles round trip this season for a Week 3 contest in Altoona.

“Travel always comes up,” Riccio said, “but I really think until you've done it, it's not what it's perceived to be.”

A real homecoming

For the first time this season, South Park football will play on its own field. Construction work on the school's stadium has reached a point that will allow South Park to host McGuffey there Friday.

“It's exciting for our kids, especially our seniors,” South Park athletic director Tom Kayda said. “It's senior night, and they've been on the road all year. They had a little bit taken away from them by not being able to play in front of their community. That was our main motivation for trying to get in this weekend.”

The team played its other home games at Dormont Stadium, Baldwin or Ringgold. South Park's stadium improvements included artificial turf, renovations to the bleachers and press box, new stadium lights and an added concessions stand. A field house with four locker rooms is still under construction.

South Park's boys soccer team will play at the stadium Saturday, and the girls will use the new field Monday.

“We're trying to avoid calling it a grand opening because it's not the finished project,” Kayda said, “but it was more about getting the kids in front of their family and peers.”

Friday's matchup has playoff implications. South Park (3-3, 3-1) is fourth in the Class 3A Interstate Conference, and McGuffey (5-2, 4-1) is tied for second.

QB makes snap decisions

Upper St. Clair's Jack Hansberry plays an unusual combination of positions. He's the team's quarterback and also the long snapper, so he was involved heavily in last week's 21-20 overtime win against West Allegheny.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior rushed for a tying touchdown in the fourth quarter, made a block on the go-ahead score in overtime and then delivered the snap on Sean Martin's winning extra-point kick.

Taking them two at a time

The PIAA realignment process for 2018-19 and 2019-20 starts this week. Member schools must submit updated enrollment figures every two years, and the deadline is traditionally Oct. 15. Once the PIAA releases updated classifications in December, the WPIAL steering committees will put teams into sections and conferences. Fall sports should be finished in January, O'Malley said, with winter sports in February and spring sports in March.

TV timeout

TribLive HSSN will stream live online the Big 9 matchup between Thomas Jefferson and Belle Vernon at 7 p.m.

AT&T Sportsnet will televise Aliquippa at Quaker Valley at 7:30 p.m. WPNT-22 will broadcast another Beaver Valley Conference game: Central Valley at Beaver Falls at 7 p.m.

Xfinity customers can watch Shady Side Academy at Avonworth tape-delayed through Comcast's on-demand service.

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

Tags: South Park, Upper St. Clair