MECHANICSBURG, Pa. – The PIAA’s competition formula will now apply to all team sports except golf, track and field and cross country, and there will be no more one-and-ones in boys or girls’ basketball.
Those were the major changes approved at Wednesday’s PIAA board of Governors meeting.
The changes in the competition formula will now apply to baseball, softball, lacrosse, field hockey, tennis, wrestling, soccer and volleyball.
The competition formula sees schools accrue one point for advancing to the first round of the PIAA championships, two points for quarterfinals, three points for semifinals and four points for championships, with six points in a two-year cycle requiring a bump up in classification.
Transfers needed in addition to success points to be moved up a classification include three in football, two in baseball, softball, lacrosse, field hockey, wrestling and soccer and one in volleyball, tennis and basketball.
With the new sports added, the PIAA is also limiting appeals to only two points – a PIAA mistake on points applied to a school, or a transfer discrepancy.
NO MORE ONE-AND-ONES
Rather than a one-and-one after a common/non-shooting foul, teams will now shoot two free-throws once they reach the bonus.
There was a change to the bonus as well, as teams will now need just five fouls instead of seven, with the fouls resetting after every quarter instead of each half.
This is an adoption of the National Federation of High School Associations change in May that eliminated one-and-one free-throw situations after common/non-shooting fouls in the bonus.
OTHER NEWS AND NOTES
• Dr. Bob Lombardi, Executive Director of the PIAA, is now the president-elect of the NFHS Board of Directors.
• The PIAA approved, on second reading, to have girls’ wrestling as part of the PIAA wrestling championships. It would be a 16-wrestler bracket. This still needs to pass one more vote.
• Girls’ flag football was approved to be added as an emerging spring sport on first reading. There are currently 52 schools in Pennsylvania with teams. There needs to be 100 before the PIAA could make it an official sport.
• Track and Field will stay as two classifications for the 2024-26 cycle.
