Times' high school notebook: Central Valley football to 3A, Beaver Falls' new hoops coach

Last Tuesday, the PIAA released enrollment figures for all sports which determine classification realignment for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons.

For the most part, it will be status quo for boys and girls teams in the Beaver County Times coverage area. However, there will be at least three significant changes for local teams.

Those changes will impact the Central Valley football program and the boys basketball programs at Aliquippa and Blackhawk.

For the past two seasons, the football Warriors played in Class 4A. They were members of the Parkway Conference which included Aliquippa, Ambridge, Blackhawk, Chartiers Valley, New Castle, Montour and West Allegheny.

But in 2024 and 2025, CV will drop down and play in a 3A conference that would likely include local teams Beaver, Hopewell and Quaker Valley.

CV has a boys enrollment of 282, which puts the Warriors 14 under the cutoff of 296 in 4A.

Central Valley had the choice to voluntarily “play up” and remain in 4A, but chose not to do so.

After all, all five of Central Valley’s WPIAL titles were in 3A, including three consecutive in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Meanwhile, in boys basketball, Aliquippa, last year’s WPIAL 2A champs, will move up to 3A. The Quips have a boys enrollment of 156 which puts them over the cutoff of 147 for 2A.

The Quips have been playing in a section that includes Laurel, Northgate, Sewickley Academy, Shenango and South Side. Starting in the 2024-25 season, they could be in a section that includes Beaver Falls, Ellwood City, Freedom, Mohawk, New Brighton and Riverside.

Also in basketball, Blackhawk moves up from 4A and will be playing in 5A for the first time ever. The Cougars now have 323 boys enrolled which puts them three over the cutoff of 320 for 4A.

Blackhawk has been playing in a section that includes Ambridge, Beaver, Central Valley, Hopewell, Lincoln Park and North Catholic. But for the next two-year cycle, they will likely play in a section that could include Mars, Montour, Moon, New Castle, South Fayette and West Allegheny.

The latest PIAA enrollment lists do not include moves created due to the PIAA competitive-balance rule which started in 2018 and applies only to football and basketball. The PIAA uses it to measure transfers and postseason success to put teams in a higher classification

Two local sports programs – the Aliquippa football team and the Lincoln Park boys basketball team – have been affected by the competitive balance rule over the years.

In football, the Quips were forced to move up from 3A to 4A in 2021. They have fared quite well in 4A by winning the WPIAL 54A title three straight years.

The Quips, who play Dallas in the PIAA state championship game Saturday, will remain in 4A the next four seasons even though they have Class 2A enrollment.

Lincoln Park, which won WPIAL titles twice in the last three years, in all likelihood will play in 5A for the next two-year cycle.

The PIAA realigns sports classifications every two years based on a school’s enrollment for boys and girls in current grades 9-11.

SHEPARD TAKES OVER AS BEAVER FALLS BOYS BASKETBALL COACH

When Beaver Falls chose a new boys basketball coach to replace Carliss Jeter, it kept the decision basically “all in the family.”

He’s Ramone Shepard, who’s Jeter’s nephew.

He’s the son of former Beaver Falls girls basketball star Joy Jeter, who led the Tigers’ girls team to WPIAL and PIAA titles in 1985.

He’s the brother of Lance Jeter, who led the Tigers’ boys team to WPIAL and PIAA titles in 2005.

Shepard was hired in June when Carliss Jeter retired after six seasons as coach.

When Carliss Jeter was hired in 2009, he succeeded Doug Biega. For many of Biega's 18 seasons as coach, Jeter was one of his assistants.

“I feel good about it,” Shepard said. “I know we have some work to do. We have to do a lot of development while building up our young guys. But I feel good about the kids we have. They have great attitudes. They enjoy the gym.”

A 2009 Beaver Falls graduate, Shephard played briefly at Polk State College in Winter Haven, Fla., and coached there for a few seasons under former Robert Morris coach Matt Furjanic. For most of the past five seasons, Shepard served as a Beaver Falls assistant.

Although basketball teams in the WPIAL played their first games over the weekend, Beaver Falls has yet to play. Its first two games were canceled because most of its projected starters played for the Tigers’ football team, the WPIAL Class 2A champs who lost in the state semifinals on Friday to Westinghouse.

Shepard says BF will open the season with games on Dec. 8 and Dec. 9 against Winchester Thurston and Aliquippa, respectively.

Last year, the Tigers finished 11-10 overall and in third place in Section 1, Class 3A with an 8-4 record behind Mohawk and Neshannock. They lost in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

“I believe we do have a team that will make the playoffs,” Shepard said. “Of course, we are waiting to see the turnout from all our guys who played football.”

BRAYLON JOHNSON TRANSFERS BACK TO MOON

The Moon boys basketball team, which projects as one of WPIAL’s top Class 5A contenders, got an interesting addition to the roster recently. The new addition is Braylon Johnson, a 6-foot-7 senior guard/forward who’s the younger brother of NBA guard Cameron Johnson, who now plays for the Brooklyn Nets, and Penn State guard Donovan “Puff” Johnson.

Braylon had been playing basketball at Pinnacle High School in the Phoenix, Ariz., area the past two years while his brother Cam was playing for the Phoenix Suns. Braylon enrolled in classes at Moon two weeks ago.  He played for Moon as a freshman in the 2020-21 season,

Last year, Braylon averaged 8.4 points per game for Pinnacle, which played in Class 6A, Arizona’s largest classification.

At this stage of his school career, Braylon doesn’t project as a major-college prospect like his brothers. Cam started his college career at Pitt and then transferred to North Carolina while “Puff” started at North Carolina before transferring to Penn State.

Moon returns four starters from a team that went 12-11 last year after losing in the first round of the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs: 6-5 senior Elijah Guillory, 6-4 junior Mike Santicola, 6-3 senior Aiden Reesman and 6-2 senior forward Charlie Depner.

Braylon Johnson didn’t play Sunday when Moon lost to Lincoln Park, 63-53, in a game played at the Leopards’ home court in Midland.

Moon coach Gino Palmosina told Brad Everett of the Pittsburgh Union Progress that Johnson missed the game due to an illness.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Times' high school notebook: Central Valley football to 3A, Beaver Falls' new hoops coach