GoldenRamsFAN wrote:The WPIAL is overrated as an overall conference
First, it's a district made up of many conferences, not just one conference. In single A the tri-county south would be one of the worst small school conferences in the state, whereas the Eastern Conference is by far the best Single A conference in the state. In 2016 5 of 8 eight WPIAL quarter finalists were from the Eastern Conference (Clairton, Jeannette, Bishop Canevin, Imani, and Springdale). This year 3 of the 4 Semi-Finalists are from the Eastern Conference. (Jeannette, Clairton, and Imani Christian) Put Homer-Center in the Eastern Conference and they'd be lucky to finish 5th out of 8 and certainly would have difficulty reaching the quarters.
There are strong and weak conferences in each classification in the WPIAL. In 3A Apollo-Ridge had a down year, Playing in what is considered to be the weakest of 3A conferences (They are a 2A school playing up), they are smaller in size than Ligonier, West Shamokin, and Marion Center. Put A-R in the Heritage and they would at least finish in the top three, probably top 2.
In 6A The two conferences the are really unbalanced. Pine-Richland, NA, Seneca, Penn Hills, and Central Catholic. The Southeastern Conference Champion (Bethel Park) lost to the 4th place in the Norther Seven Conference. Pine Richland will probably play St Joes for the state title in a few weeks.
In 4A Johnstown was the D6 runner up. Do you really think they could hang this year with TJ, South Fayette,Belle Vernon, New Castle, and Montour?
The LHAC is one multi-classification conference in District 6. You can hardly compare them with the entire WPIAL. you could project how teams would do, but that's about it. For instance, I think Forest Hills could play very well in the WPIAL 3A. Could they beat Aliquippa? probably not, but I would expect them to have a shot at the semi's. Ligonier and McCort in 2A (they would have gotten crushed by Steel Valley last year, ask Southern Columbia) This year they would probably get beaten again but not by as much. This year in 2A Steel Valley, North Catholic, Wash High, and Riverside are in the semi's. Could Ligonier win 2A in the WPIAL? All I can tell you is Wash High is a little bit better than Homer-Center or Cambria Heights.
So to say the WPIAL is over rated is a bit of stretch. There are bad teams and bad conferences. On the other hand there are more good teams and more good conferences than any district in the state hands down. When a team wins a WPIAL championship they generally have beaten at least 3 or 4 very good teams throughout the regular season and play-offs. Will you be able say that Ligonier beat 3 or 4 really good AA teams or BG beat 3 or 4 really good Single A teams if they win D6? probably not. However BG beat a decent 4A team a really good 3A team, and a good 2A team. Not many "Single A" teams can say that.
And then there is the Blair County All-Stars. As I've mentioned before no one is going to touch them. Single A teams do not have rosters of 60 kids. They don't have 28 juniors and seniors (most are lucky to have that on their roster) so they will beat any team Clairton, Jeannette, Imani, California or whoever they see in Hershey. It won't be a Juniata Valley type blow out but it will still be convincing. I have to admit BG is doing a better job of not hitting 50 points this year in the play-offs (you don't want to draw too much attention) especially if you are planning on staying in Single A for the next two years.
The only thing that may slow down the purple machine is Altoona's move back to D6. They will start winning again. Will it be enough to draw players back? time will tell.