There are some changes coming in PIAA sports in the coming year(s).
The biggest change will be in basketball rules. Earlier this year, the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) approve a major changes in fouls for basketball. There are no more 1-and-1 fouls, but there will be 2 shots one every foul starting with the fifth team foul each quarter.
The fouls will reset to 0 at the start of each quarter.
Another change which has not affected this area very much is the competition formula. The competition formula, which was used to make some teams with strong success and transfers into the school, pushed some schools up a classification. Until now, it was only used for football and basketball, but starting this year, it will be in effect for more the PIAA sports. It will not effect golf, track and field, and cross country.
For sports that have team and individual competitions (wrestling and tennis), if a team is bumped up in classification, that also would change the classification for the individuals on that team. If a wrestling team gets bumped up from 2A to 3A due to the competition formula, the team must wrestle in 3A and the individual wrestlers would also wrestle in the 3A individual tournaments.
The PIAA will only allow appeals if the PIAA mistake on points applied to school or for a transfer discrepancy.
– On a second reading basis, the PIAA approved to have girls’ wrestling as part of the PIAA Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center on March 7-9, 2024. It would be using a 16-wrestler bracket with a schedule to be determined. There was no mention of how the 16 wrestlers would be determined
– The PIAA approved on a first reading to add girls’ flag football as an emerging spring sport. There are 52 schools in Pennsylvania with teams, and there needs to be 100 before the PIAA could make it an official PIAA sport.
– PIAA Track and Field will stay 2 classes for at least the next cycle.
– PIAA also extends deadline to drop co-ops if it changes schools classification from the current date of October 1 to the new deadline of December 1.
– Dr. Robert Lombardi, the executive director of the PIAA, is the president-elect of the NFHS Board of Directors.