Here’s what PIAA’s new region format means for Bellefonte, State College wrestling
For years, Centre County wrestling fans have traveled to Altoona to watch county schools compete in the Class 3A Northwest Regional tournament for a shot in the PIAA individual championships.
Most recently, it has only been State College fans making the trek, but this year Bellefonte was set to move back up to the classification after being in Class 2A the past two seasons.
On Wednesday, the PIAA approved a new four-region format that eliminated the Northwest Regional, which means the Little Lions and Red Raiders teams and fans will have to travel to Pittsburgh.
Bellefonte coach Mike Maney said that for the individual postseason, he’s been a proponent of removing classifications and just having one state tournament, creating “one true state champion” for Pennsylvania.
“For someone who’s wrestled in the Northwest region, you hate to see the tradition and the history (removed), because even though we are a small region (team count wise) I think we’ve held our own over the years,” Maney said. “You have names like Carter Starocci and other high-caliber wrestlers that have come out of the region.”
It’s also quite the twist for a first year head coach, who is new to the area, like new State College coach Jason Nickal.
“Last year, I was fortunate enough to assist and kind of get a feel for Pennsylvania wrestling and State College High,” Nickal said. “I want to continue to grow and develop our program within the state, so that means I got to become very familiar with our competition and expectations in district, region and state.”
Under the new format, all of the District 6 Class 3A schools will compete against District 7 (WPIAL), District 8, District 9 and District 10 schools in the West Regional.
Districts 6, 8, 9 and 10, along with District 4, made up the former Northwest Regional, so the WPIAL teams replace District 4. The other regions are the South Central Regional (all of District 3 — Harrisburg area), Southeast Regional (all of District 1 — all of counties surrounding Philadelphia) and the Northeast Regional (District 2, District 4, District 11 and District 12).
With the new setup, this gives all the regions a close to equal amount of teams per region. Each region is expected to have five state qualifiers.
“There were all kinds of different proposals that were swirling around. They were talking about knocking our region down to two qualifiers, and then moving us over to the WPIAL region. I just can’t worry too much about that,” Nickal said. “I just got to help our kids focus on getting better at wrestling. Whatever qualification they create for us, we’re going to have to deal with it. We’re just going to try and be the best wrestlers we can be when we step out on the mat.”
Added Maney: “Wrestlers often are known to not make excuses. We’re just going to find ways and put ourselves in the best position possible to get as many guys to states. The goal hasn’t changed, it’s a little bit different route.”
When it comes to qualifying for the regional tournament out of the District 6 Championships, nothing is expected to change there. The top three will move on to the West Regional.
What will change is going to be the fan experience.
Now instead of making a 45-minute drive to Altoona, Red Raiders and Little Lions fans will have to go nearly three hours to Canon-McMillan High School, which is the expected regional host, as it has been the host for the former Southwest Regional tournament.
This also means adding the cost of hotels and meals into the mix.
“Depending on where the regions are, you see a drop off for whatever reason, whether it’s things are broadcast over the internet or whatever the case might be. Like I said, you lose that history, tradition and identity of the teams that would compete, the back and forth in the gym, or some of the rival schools,” Maney said. “The knowledge, even though they (fans) might not be wrestling guru, they identify with a school and know a high caliber match. A casual fan might, with more schools, lose some of that (knowledge).
“I know they talked about District 8 and wanting to keep them promoting and growing the sport of wrestling. The district, which is Pittsburgh, by keeping them in the Northwest region, that would help with that. Now, that’s probably going to be erased as well because of the rule. If you’re looking to expand, which would be a big deal for a District 8 school to get someone to the state tournament, to help grow the sport is tough too. Again, it comes back to the losing some of that thing that you need to help grow the sport, the rivals, the schools identifying with each other and the atmosphere overall, so hopefully we can find ways to keep that.”
The official start to the wrestling season is Nov. 15 with competitions starting at the beginning of December. The District 6 Championships will be in Altoona Feb. 14-15 with the regional tournament taking place on Feb. 28 and March 1.
Class 2A Southwest Regional gets additional qualifier
As much of a big day it was for Class 3A wrestling, Class 2A saw a slight change as well.
The PIAA also approved the PIAA Southwest Regional, which consists of District 5, 6 and 7, to now get seven state qualifiers as opposed to six that it received before. The Southeast Regional, which is District 1, 3, 11 and 12, lost a qualifier.
This change allows Bald Eagle Area, Penns Valley and Philipsburg-Osceola an opportunity to get more wrestlers to the state tournament now.
“The 7th place match will now obviously be a must watch match! Historically, the Southwest Regional Tournament is very deep in talent,” Rams coach Joel Brinker said via text Wednesday evening, “and has always represented itself well at the PIAA State Championships. I see it as a positive, that gives an area athlete another opportunity to chase his dream.”
This story was originally published October 9, 2024 at 4:38 PM.
