Aliquippa grad, current 5A coach understands Quips’ concerns with bump up in class

By: Chris Harlan
Sunday, January 28, 2024 | 5:53 PM

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Can Aliquippa compete in Class 5A football? Yes, says Pine-Richland coach Jon LeDonne, but he also considers the Quips’ concerns about player health to be valid.

LeDonne won two state titles as a Class 5A coach and years ago won a WPIAL title as a player for Aliquippa. That football resume gives him unique perspective on the PIAA decision to force small-school Aliquippa up another classification.

In LeDonne’s view, the Quips are talented enough to compete at the higher level, but he wonders about the team’s health over an entire season and questions why the competitive-balance rule can’t consider other factors like the transient nature of the Aliquippa community.

“I definitely think Aliquippa can compete in 5A with what they have,” LeDonne said, “but it becomes a long season when you’ve got to consider injuries and the next-man-up mentality. They don’t have as many options, especially up front.”

Roster depth, primarily at the line of scrimmage, could be the biggest mismatch for Aliquippa when playing against schools that have three or four times more students.

The PIAA lists Aliquippa with 156 boys in grades 9-11, the years used to determine a school’s enrollment. The smallest Class 5A school playing WPIAL football is South Fayette with 428 boys. The largest is North Hills with 586.

One difference between small-school and big-school football is how many players start both ways. That approach differs even between Class 5A and 4A, where Aliquippa played the past four seasons.

Teams with larger rosters have the luxury to platoon players, especially upfront.

“Playing 5A football, I had one player who went both ways on the offensive and defensive lines this year and he was a Wisconsin recruit,” LeDonne said.

That two-way starter was Ryan Cory, a 6-foot-4, 285-pound senior who earned all-state honors. But even for Cory, starting both ways on game days wasn’t easy, said LeDonne, who added that Cory took part in recovery therapy at the school and also twice a week at Allegheny Health Network.

“It takes time for the body to recover,” LeDonne said. “There were days on Tuesdays and Wednesdays that Ryan’s body was still recovering and he was doing everything he could to get his body ready for the next week.

“A 5A schedule does that to you, especially up front when you’re taking 150 snaps on a Friday night.”

LeDonne was a two-way player at Aliquippa as a linebacker, tight end, fullback and split end. As a senior in 2000, the Quips won a WPIAL Class 2A title and finished as state runners-up. So, LeDonne has had interest in following Aliquippa’s dispute with the PIAA over its competitive-balance rule.

Under the rule, football teams that have state playoff success and add three or more transfers in a two-year span are forced up one classification.

In 2020, the PIAA moved the Quips from Class 3A to 4A. Two years later, the Quips avoided a promotion to 5A by winning an appeal, but this time the PIAA denied their request to stay in 4A.

Aliquippa representatives argued in the PIAA hearing that the rule was a safety concern since the high school’s enrollment qualifies the football team for Class 2A. They also said the rule disproportionately impacts lower-income communities, where a significant number of families reside in rental properties. Quips coach Mike Warfield testified how the five transfers added contributed little to the team’s on-field success.

Yet, the PIAA board still voted Wednesday to move Aliquippa to 5A.

LeDonne said Aliquippa’s situation likely revealed some shortcoming in the rule.

“It doesn’t consider the type of community, that it’s transient,” he said. “All it looks at is success and transfers. And like Coach Warfield said, it also doesn’t look at the impact of the transfers or the social and economics of an area.”

Aliquippa was voluntarily playing up to Class 3A before the PIAA implemented its competitive-balance rule. Since joining 4A in 2020, the Quips have won three WPIAL titles, two state titles and were state runners-up once.

LeDonne predicted that the Quips won’t concede now, just because they’re in 5A.

“Aliquippa is a school and a community that’s going to rally together and put a good product on the field,” he said. “They’re going to be competitive no matter where they are.”

Along with its usual Class 5A conference opponents, Pine-Richland’s schedule last fall included three nonconference games against even larger 6A schools. Might the Quips run into North Allegheny or Seneca Valley, schools that the PIAA credit with nearly 1,000 or more boys?

“There definitely is validity to their concerns,” LeDonne said. “Can they compete? No doubt about it. As far as skill-position talent, yeah, they can compete at the 5A level. But week in and week out, it becomes a grind and you have some concerns about health.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Aliquippa, Pine-Richland