PIAA asks appellate court to lift injunction that keeps Aliquippa in 4A football

A Commonwealth Court judge must decide whether there was a proper basis for a lower court’s ruling that kept the Aliquippa football team in Class 4A.

Appellate Judge Patricia McCullough heard opposing arguments Tuesday from attorneys representing Aliquippa School District and the PIAA, which wants the preliminary injunction put on hold so it can move the team to 5A under its competitive-balance rule.

PIAA attorney Kandice Hull argued that Common Pleas Judge James Ross erred in May when he granted Aliquippa the injunction, saying the school district didn’t meet the legal requirements. However, McCullough, who did not make an immediate ruling, seemed skeptical at times Tuesday in questioning Hull.

For instance, McCullough noted how the lower court found the PIAA had acted “arbitrarily” when addressing health and safety concerns raised by Aliquippa. She also questioned why a PIAA competitive-balance rule hadn’t impacted Southern Columbia, a seven-time defending state champion in 2A.

The hearing lasted around 45 minutes.

“The PIAA has a very high burden,” Aliquippa attorney Tina Miller told the court.

To receive a stay, Miller argued, the PIAA must establish a likelihood of success on appeal and show irreparable injury. It also needed to show the stay would not harm Aliquippa and not adversely affect public interest, she said.

“The PIAA has established none of those elements here,” Miller added. “In particular, they have not established any sort of emergency that would require this court … to essentially reverse a trial court’s decision.”

Hull disagreed, saying the stay would benefit the overall public interest by allowing the PIAA to place Aliquippa in Class 5A.

“Aliquippa has been extremely successful in 4A and would like to remain there to maintain its dominance,” Hull said. “The PIAA and the public have an interest in fair play and a level playing field.”

The Commonwealth Court hearing was held by video conference call and came after the PIAA filed an emergency request for a stay. Football season is less than a month away with teams starting heat acclimation Aug. 5.

Still, the judge questioned the PIAA on the nature of its emergency, noting an updated schedule already was released with Aliquippa in 4A.

Hull said the PIAA was “between a rock and a hard place” when issuing the new schedules in June. If the stay were granted, she said, the WPIAL could return to the original schedules released in March with Aliquippa in Class 5A.

“The PIAA wanted to do the right thing and comply with the trial court’s order,” Hull said, “and also make this request for stay.”

The hearing stemmed from a lawsuit Aliquippa filed in March to prevent the PIAA from moving the football team to 5A. The Quips are the defending state champions in 4A. Aliquippa’s enrollment qualifies for 2A, and school administrators have said playing against opponents with much larger enrollments would put players at risk.

Miller, as Aliquippa’s attorney, accused the PIAA of putting self interests ahead of “health and safety,” which, she said, was “frankly outrageous.”

The competitive-balance rule targets football teams that have success in the state playoffs and add three or more transfers in a two-year cycle. The PIAA moves teams that meet both criteria into a higher classification to play against schools with larger enrollments.

The PIAA said Aliquippa met both criteria.

“The fundamental claim that Aliquippa is making is that this formula somehow violates the equal protection clause,” said Hull, arguing the rule was applied evenly to all schools. “That, we strongly believe, they cannot establish.”

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