Philadelphia Public League reverts back to crowning one champion
Tagged under: District 12, News, pfn, Playoffs
Anthony Franklin | September 24, 2025
For the first time since 2008 the Philadelphia Public League will crown a single Public League overall champion. Gone are playoffs for all classifications within the league and the league will grant playoff berths to 8 teams to compete for the covenant Public League title. The top division Independence (Imhotep, Lincoln, Northeast, West Philadelphia, Simon Gratz and George Washington) will have its top 4 finishers earn a playoff berth and home field advantage in the opening round. The 2nd tier division Liberty (Boys Latin, Martin Luther King, Central, Belmont Charter, John Bartram, Olney) will have its top 2 finishers qualify for the playoffs. The 3rd tier division National (Ben Franklin, Palumbo, Future, South Philadelphia, Frankford, Kipp and Roxborough) will have its top two finishers also qualify for the playoffs.
One notable exception is that teams in the bottom tier division American (Audenreid, Kensington, Vaux, Dobbins, Fels, Overbrook, Edison) are ineligible for the Public League playoffs. Another rule with the new system is any school that does not qualify for the Public League playoffs are ineligible to compete in District 12 title games against the Catholic League champions. However, those schools in class 1A and 2A will represent the league in the D12 title games. Because Belmont is the lone 1A representative in District 12 regardless of standings they’ll play a sub-regional game against the District 1 representative.
For teams that fail to qualify for the playoffs the league will grant 8 spots to teams to compete in the Public Invitation Tournament and crown a PIT champion with the top 2 remaining qualifying teams from all 4 divisions qualifying.
The playoff format will be as follows:
Independence #1 v National #1
Independence #2 v National #2
Independence #3 v Liberty #2
Independence #4 v Liberty #1
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