Pennsylvania high school AD suggests competitive balance model

According to a press release, Fox Chapel Area School District (Pa.) is proposing a competitive balance model to improve competition for Western Pennsylvania high school football.

“In public education, school districts are required to meet students where they are to provide the best education possible. No one can deny that our interscholastic sports programs are an extension of the classroom,” Fox Chapel Area Director of Athletics Mike O’Brien said via the press release.

“As such, it is our job to look out for the health and safety of every student, every day. This includes the time they spend, not just in the classroom, but also playing interscholastic sports. That is why, at the crux, the new proposal to realign the way football is organized in Western Pennsylvania is about keeping kids safe.”

Competitive imbalance examples throughout Western Pennsylvania have popped up throughout the 2025 season, with the most notable coming last week when Baldwin (Pa.) athletic director Tony Cherico sent emails to athletic directors of the Fighting Highlanders’ last five opponents regarding playing games under the potential use of running clocks.

The Fighting Highlanders have continued to struggle mightily the last couple of seasons as the football program is in the midst of a current 25-game losing streak and are off to a 0-6 start this fall. Baldwin has been out-scored 326-45, playing in one of the tougher sections in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL).

O’Brien’s aim is to mold the competitive balance model based on a number of key points, which focuses primarily on geographic location and roster size to shakeup the current landscape of how the conference’s are made up by.

The WPIAL categorizes teams strictly according to enrollment numbers and Fox Chapel Area proposed seven sections, staying true with the number of players per roster. Per the draft made up, the WPIAL would schedule seven games for each school, with the remaining three contests being left to each program to arrange themselves, which includes Week 0 and two outside league tilts.

The proposal states that the arrangement would allow for teams to schedule how they may please, whether they would like to organize setting up tougher opponents or lighter competition to meet the needs of their respective program.

Fox Chapel Area is coming off what could be viewed as an unfair contest between the Fox and Pine-Richland, one of the state’s top high school football teams. The Rams would walk away easily with a 63-3 victory, which was played under a modified clock that included a normal 12-minute quarter, a 8-minute period and the last two quarters played by consecutive 8-minute running clocks.

“We need to evolve. We need to meet these student-athletes and teams where they are and consider other factors when placing teams in categories. This proposal takes into consideration a team’s current and past performances, roster numbers, and a program’s current standing. It matches teams that will be able to compete with one another. Unfortunately, despite the large amount of work students are putting in, some are not winning even a single contest during the season,” O’Brien added in the press release. “This is why this new proposal could be more effective.”

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