Uniontown basketball teams bumped up to 5A
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
Uniontown boys basketball coach Rob Kezmarsky knew it was coming.
“I’ve been looking at what the new sections might be for three months,” Kezmarsky said after the WPIAL released its winter sports alignment for the next two seasons.
The Red Raiders and Lady Raiders both will be making the jump from Class 4A to 5A.
Uniontown, Laurel Highlands and Albert Gallatin all moved up from Section 3-4A to Section 1-5A in boys basketball. That section also includes Franklin Regional, Gateway, Latrobe, McKeesport and Penn-Trafford.
No matter where they were placed, next year’s Red Raiders have the same goal as always when it comes to section play, according to Kezmarsky.
“We’re working real hard to win the school’s 52nd section title,” said Kezmarsky, noting his team is playing in multiple competitive tournaments and leagues this summer. “They’ve really improved. We feel we can be one of the best 5A teams next year.
“We weren’t sure if it might be Baldwin or Peters Township with us as far as the section. We thought Ringgold would probably be with us since they’re so close but then went in another direction.
“We’re excited about it. You can’t work any harder than our kids are working.”
Ringgold boys remain in 5A but Connellsville, which went 2-20 last season while playing in Section 1-5A, was moved up into Section 2-6A and joins Canon-McMillan, Central Catholic, Hempfield, Imani Christian, Mt. Lebanon, Norwin and Upper St. Clair.
In Class 4A, Belle Vernon and Elizabeth Forward remain in Section 3 but with a different mix of teams, joining Derry, East Allegheny, Greensburg Salem, West Mifflin and Yough, which was bumped up from 3A.
Brownsville remains in Section 4-3A, as does Charleroi, Waynesburg Central and Mount Pleasant. Southmoreland, the lone area team to fall in class, drops down from 4A to join that section which also includes Ligonier Valley.
In Class 2A, Frazier and Bentworth move from Section 4 to Section 1 and will compete with Clairton, Greensburg Central Catholic, Jeannette, Riverview, Springdale and California, which jumps up from Class 1A.
Also in Class 2A, Section 3 will contain five local teams – Beth-Center, Carmichaels, Jefferson-Morgan, Mapletown and West Greene – who will compete with Burgettstown, Chartiers-Houston and Fort Cherry.
Remaining in Section 2-1A will be Geibel Catholic and Monessen who will be joined by Environmental Charter, Neighborhood Academy, St. Joseph and Serra Catholic.
In the girls alignment, Connellsville, like the Falcons, were moved up from 5A to 6A into Section 2 along with Canon-McMillan, Hempfield, Mt. Lebanon, Norwin and Upper St. Clair.
The Albert Gallatin girls remain in 5A and will play in Section 4 with Uniontown, Thomas Jefferson and Trinity along with three teams that participated at 6A last year in Baldwin, Bethel Park and Peters Township.
Staying in Section 3-4A are Laurel Highlands, Elizabeth Forward, Belle Vernon, Ringgold and Southmoreland who will be joined by Mt. Pleasant and Yough who were both bumped up from 3A, as was South Park.
Remaining in 3A are Brownsville, Waynesburg Central and Charleroi who are now in Section 3 along with Keystone Oaks, McGuffey, Seton LaSalle and Washington.
In Class 2A, Section 4 is now basically Section 3 with holdovers Frazier, Carmichaels, California, Beth-Center, Bentworth and Chartiers-Houston along with Jefferson-Morgan which was moved up from 1A after going 3-19 last season.
Remaining in Section 2-1A are Geibel Catholic, Mapletown, West Greene, Monessen and Avella but that group will now also include Serra Catholic, Bishop Canevin, Clairton and Bishop Canevin.
In wrestling, Albert Gallatin and Belle Vernon were the only teams to switch classifications, both moving up from 2A to 3A. The Colonials will join defending WPIAL champion Connellsville in Section 8 along with Latrobe and Hempfield. The Leopards are now in Section 7 with Ringgold, McKeesport, Thomas Jefferson and West Mifflin.
Waynesburg Central remains in 3A but now will now compete in Section 2 with Canon-McMillan, along with Trinity, Chartiers Valley and South Fayette.
Also in 2A, West Greene remains in Section 1 while Section 3 consists of five area teams in Frazier, Jefferson-Morgan, Beth-Center, Bentworth and Brownsville, which returns to section play after bringing back its varsity program last season. Southmoreland, Young and EF are in Section 7 with South Allegheny and South Park. Mount Pleasant will compete in Section 8.
All area boys and girls swimming and diving teams are in correlating sections. Connellsville returns to Class 3A after spending the last two seasons at 2A. The six other area teams remain in their same sections, Mount Pleasant, including the defending PIAA champion Lady Vikings, in Section 4 and Laurel Highlands, Uniontown, Belle Vernon, Ringgold and Elizabeth Forward in Section 5.
In rifle, the two local teams, Waynesburg Central and West Greene, have been split up. Both were in Section 1 but West Greene has been moved over to Section 2.