On Wednesday, April 29th, the PA State House legislation passed Bill 41 that will permit the PIAA to separate public and private schools into different post-seasons. This is the result of many complaining fans over the unfairness of the state playoffs. Nine states already separate their postseason. This concern in local high school sports, particularly football, has traveled to the state government level, surrounding boundary vs non-boundary schools competing against each other in the PIAA state playoffs. Boundary schools include public schools that serve students within a designated geographic area. Non-boundary schools include private, Catholic, and charter schools that have no geographical area and can draw student athletes from anywhere. In football, a non-boundary school has won the 6A and 5A titles the last 3 years. Along with football and basketball, supporters feel the wrestling postseason should be split up according to proponents of the bill, as well.
This House Bill would directly affect Parkland football, as typically, when Parkland does win the District championship, they play St. Joe’s Prep and always get dominated. Parkland Football assistant head coach, Coach Facchiano, said, “Since I have coached, the District 11 champion has always been matched against the District 12 Champion (St. Joe’s Prep or LaSalle College Prep).” One of the reasons for St. Joe’s domination is their ability to recruit players from multiple states. Another argument is the stark difference in the roster size. When Parkland and St Joe’s Prep faced off, Parkland had roughly 60 players on the roster while St Joe’s had roughly 90. Having this humongous roster size is obviously a competitive advantage. In the 2024-2025 season, Parkland stood no chance, losing to St. Joe’s Prep 46-7. Despite the disadvantages, Coach Facchiano stated Parkland still tried to keep the mindset of “controlling what we can control” and focus on preparing to the best of their ability to face whatever team they line up against.
One perspective to consider is schools like Bethlehem Catholic and Allentown Central Catholic, which interact and compete fairly with public schools. It is undeniable that in every sport, they add value to the league Parkland competes in. In theory, Parkland would still compete against divisional rivals like Allentown Central Catholic in the regular season. These schools are valuable, tough opponents, and additionally, don’t recruit as much as schools like St. Joe’s Prep. It would be unfair for them to have to compete with these bigger private schools that recruit from multiple states.
It will be interesting to see what actions the PIAA takes on this and how it affects all Parkland athletics. It is very possible that Parkland teams can have more success in the state playoffs if this passes. No matter what, Go Trojans!
