The STATE of PA Football: Mid season look at classes 5A and 6A. Does the title in 6A leave D12?

Tagged under: Gameday Hub, News

Billy Splain | October 2, 2026

It’s week six of the regular season and time to take a look at what’s happening in classes 5A and 6A.

5A

First let’s take a peak at the PFN Rankings.

Right now there are 13 undefeated teams in 5A, five of them in D7. We also have the two finalists from last year up in 6A (McDevitt and Roman). There are 18 one loss teams. Yeah, it’s a mess! Let’s start out west because there seems to be a major battle brewing. Pine-Richland leads the way in D7 with their 4-1 record. Their only loss coming to 6A powerhouse PCC.  Then you have Upper St. Clair, Penn-Trafford, North Hills and TJ shining their cleats with surprise 5-0 Plum. The Warriors of PT seem to have a favorable schedule to win out. Plum has the toughest schedule remaining with 4-1 Armstrong tonight, North Hills and the #1 Rams to close the season. USC and TJ will battle in week 9. Eric Kasperowicz and his new team North Hills will face Armstrong and Pine-Richland in the second half of their season. Too many variables to make a call here. Exciting 5 weeks coming up in the WPIAL.  Hollidaysburg, Miffco and Dubois are the only 5A teams in the center of the state and the Tigers are a bit weaker than last season.

So, off to the east we go. We’ll start in D12 where Imhotep is the class of the field right now. They won’t be challenged for the top spot with their only loss coming by one point to powerhouse DeMatha. So let’s look at who their playoff opponents might be in D1. TONS of huge battles tonight. We have Chester, Great valley, Interboro, Springfield-Delco and Garnet Valley all undefeated. Then there are six teams with one loss who look to make some noise. Chester took out Strath Haven in week one but they have a loaded schedule with three teams that are 4-1. Interboro tonight, Executive and Chichester. 5-0 Great Valley has 4-1 Henderson tonight, Shanahan next week then Wood in week 9. Delco and 6A undefeated Ridley battle tonight then the Cougars and Strath Haven will battle to end the season. 4-0 Garnet Valley has Haven and Ridley coming up as well. Look out for Unionville. Their loss to Great Valley in week one is behind them but they face always tough Rustin tonight and Downingtown West in week 7. Other teams worth mentioning, Upper Perk, Upper Moreland and Wissahickon. Wiss and UM face off tonight.

In D11 it’s 4A champion from 2025 Southern Lehigh. Their biggest test is a team that is a thorn in their helmet, NWL and 3A NDGP. District three has a major battle brewing among 2 undefeated teams and a whopping nine 4-1 teams. Let’s start with Solanco. They’re mean, nasty and looking to make some noise. And there won’t be any louder noise than next week when they host 5-0 Twin Valley in what may be the game of the week in PA. The Raiders are rolling right along and also face 4-1 Exeter twp in week 9. Conestoga Valley is coming off a loss to 4-1 Ephrata and they face two more 4-1 teams in Elizabethtown and Twp. The Bears, Twp and Ephrata all have business to tend to with each other in the second half of the season. Gettysburg could very well run the table after that loss to Northern York. The Polar Bears could be tested by Hershey in week 7. Northeastern, the Bobcats face off with Susquehannock and West York.

Summary for 5A: Again, too many variables = an exciting end to the season.

6A

Lets start with the western bracket. We have to look at this one a little differently as there are only twelve 6A teams from State College west. None have received more press than #1 Central Catholic. Is this their year? Could very well be. With just one 3A team in D7 holding at 2 losses, it’s likely not goin to matter what happens in the 6A playoffs in the WPIAL. The Vikings will likely face the winner of State College/McDowell once again before they face the D3 rep.

So, let’s go their next. District 3 in 6A is LOADED. the #2 Harrisburg wants to defend their title and the Cougars are 5-0 right now. They do have McDevitt and State College waiting in the wings. McDevitt lost to State by one score a couple weeks ago. Cedar Crest just got waxed by Manheim Twp and they have Wilson tonight followed by 4-1 Penn Manor in week 9. The Comets have it tough. Twp, Wilson and Cedar Crest waiting. Don’t let records fool you. With all those Reading area teams facing off, don’t forget about Central York. With one score losses to State High and Twp, they’re still a player and that week 9 blast with Wilson will tell us a lot.

District fours lone 6A team, Williamsport, is forging forward without their best player and just lost to Shik two weeks ago. They still have rival Jersey Shore tonight and Shamokin next week so we’ll wait to make a call on them. Skipping over D2 as they don’t seem to have a player ready for prime time, we will dive into D1. Pennridge, Ridley, Downingtown East and Plymouth-Whitemarsh are undefeated with CBW, DWest and Spring-Ford nipping at their heals. And don’t leave a surging Coatesville out. After opening the season ranked they lost their first two games. Tonight, they face DWest in a huge battle. They still have Downingtown East, WC Henderson and Shanahan on their schedule. As for the undefeated teams, Pennridge has a decent schedule with North Penn, and a scrappy Neshaminy but they do look good to finish unblemished. Ridley has SF Delco, Strath Haven, Garnet Valley and Interboro. Combined those teams are 18-1. Ouch. Downingtown East has Shanahan tonight then that monster East/West game at Walter E. Kottmeyer Stadium next week. All hands on deck!  PW could very well finish undefeated. The Fords have that Week 8 PJP game along with OJR in week 9, then the SOL crossover game. In d1, it’s all going to come down to points.

Then you have District 12. For the last two years this district was a 6A juggernaut. This year, SJP and LaSalle have company in the way of Roman Catholic. The defending champion Explorers don’t look like the title team we saw last year. At 2-3 it’s tough to judge. Two losses came to out of state opponents and one to Malvern, who also has a couple losses to Prep and Tep. They did get a nice win last week against Delaware power Salesianum. They still have SJP, Roman, O’Hara and Bonner to play after Father Judge tomorrow. And what about perennial champion SJP? We don’t know. They barely beat Malvern, and they have the same opponents looming and rumor is they’re down the their third QB tonight. That leaves us with Roman Catholic. Another team we just don’t know about. Roman is 2-2. Their losses came to St. John Bosco (CA) and Don Bosco Prep. Two national powerhouses. Their wins came against DeMatha and Springside Chestnut Hill. A Delaware team and an Inter Ac team. All these Catholic Red teams face each other in the next five weeks. So, let’s sit back and enjoy.

Summary for 6A: on paper it looks like PCC and the rest, however, we just don’t know what the rest looks like yet. It’s going to be an exciting 5 weeks, get out and watch some amazing high school football!