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<p>Now that the PIAA released its preliminary state football playoff brackets, District 2 can take the next step of formulating its playoffs for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.</p><p>The new six-classification brackets were issued at the PIAA Board of Directors meeting on Wednesday. They passed the first reading easily, but must pass two more before becoming official. The next reading will come at the board&#8217;s meeting during the state basketball playoffs in March. The final reading comes in June when the board convenes at the state track and field meet.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t see many changes if any (to the brackets),&#8221; said Frank Majikes, District 2 chairman and PIAA vice president. &#8220;But you never know because I&#8217;m studying it from our angle. I don&#8217;t know about the other districts what&#8217;s in their minds. So I can&#8217;t say there won&#8217;t be any changes.&#8221;</p><p>Although the brackets show the state playoffs beginning on Week 10, that date is actually the 11th week of the football season. Leagues have the option of playing nine regular-season games and maintaining two scrimmages or playing 10 regular-season games and eliminating one scrimmage.</p><p>The Wyoming Valley Conference and Lackawanna Conference, which make up District 2, have elected to play 10 games. Therefore, the season will start Aug. 26 and that week said Majikes will be known as &#8220;Zero Week.&#8221; Other leagues will start their seasons on Sept. 2, which will be Week 1.</p><p>In other words, WVC and LFC teams will be playing their second games of the season on what the PIAA considers Week 1. When the PIAA begins its postseason on Week 10, WVC and LFC playoff qualifiers will actually be playing their 11th games.</p><p>District 2 will maintain its own playoffs for the next two seasons in Class A, 2A, 3A and 4A. It will be in a subregional with District 11 in Class 5A and in a subregional with District 4 in Class 6A. Williamsport, which is a football-only member of the WVC, is the only D4-6A team. So the district 6A playoffs will be similar to the district 4A playoffs over the past several years.</p><p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t know what we&#8217;re going to do with the playoffs yet,&#8221; Majikes said. &#8220;When you&#8217;re in a subregion, everybody has to come to an agreement to work it out. We haven&#8217;t sat down, but obviously we have a very, very good rapport with (Districts) 4 and 11 over the years. But now with the change, we have to sit down and plan again.&#8221;</p><p>District 2 currently plans to use the PIAA state points system to determine playoff qualifiers, although there has been rumblings of switching to a power-rating system like the one used in District 11. Majikes said that would be up to the conferences to come to an agreement to which system to use.</p><p>&#8220;That remains to be seen because we haven&#8217;t met and we haven&#8217;t had input from the conferences because they haven&#8217;t done their schedules yet,&#8221; Majikes said. &#8220;They could come up with that kind of suggestion. Right now we&#8217;re status quo.&#8221;</p><p>The WVC athletic directors will put together a football schedule for 2016 and 2017 in February.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Sean Judge (10) tries to stretch out a running play against the Parkland defense during last year&#8217;s District 2/4-11 Class 4A championship game. The PIAA released its preliminary state football brackets on Wednesday, but it must be passed two more times before becoming official. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_wvwparkland05.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Sean Judge (10) tries to stretch out a running play against the Parkland defense during last year&#8217;s District 2/4-11 Class 4A championship game. The PIAA released its preliminary state football brackets on Wednesday, but it must be passed two more times before becoming official. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>DISTRICT 2 FOOTBALL ENROLLMENT</strong></p><p>Here are the updated football classifications for the 2016 and 2017 seasons with PIAA parameters and male enrollment numbers in parentheses.</p><p>Since the original numbers were released in November, Berwick has voluntarily moved up a classification. Carbondale, Montrose and Northwest dropped co-operative agreements with neighboring schools and dropped down one classification.</p><p><strong>CLASS 6A (564 or higher):</strong> Hazleton Area (897); Scranton (722); Delaware Valley (608); Williamsport (667).</p><p><strong>CLASS 5A (398-563):</strong> Wyoming Valley West (446); Abington Heights (421); Wallenpaupack (413).</p><p><strong>CLASS 4A (283-397):</strong> West Scranton (381); North Pocono (371); Pittston Area (365); Crestwood (364); Coughlin (361); Dallas (347); Tunkhannock (314); Honesdale (303); Valley View (301); Wyoming Area (288); Berwick (273)</p><p><strong>CLASS 3A (201-282):</strong> Scranton Prep (278); Nanticoke (268); GAR (238); Meyers (238); Lake-Lehman (235); Hanover Area (230); Western Wayne (226); Holy Redeemer (203).</p><p><strong>CLASS 2A (141-200):</strong> Dunmore (199); Mid Valley (195); Carbondale (192); Lakeland (190); Montrose (185); Riverside (176); Susquehanna (173)</p><p><strong>CLASS A (up to 140):</strong> Holy Cross (126); Northwest (120), Lackawanna Trail (114); Old Forge (114).</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

New PIAA football brackets mean more work for District 2