District 11 held a luncheon Thursday afternoon at the Moravian College-St. Luke’s Sports and Rehabilitation Center in Bethlehem to discus changes coming up this sports calendar year, in regards to postseason playoff berths, with the new PIAA classifications coming into effect this year.

The biggest change in most sports this year is how teams qualify for the postseason where the numbers have changed, as well as the qualification scale, where in year’s past, having a .500 overall or league record automatically granted you access to the postseason. Teams that also won their conference championship also gained automatic entry to the postseason.

This year another option has been thrown into the equation due to the new classification structure.

“We’ve added the factor where there’s a minimum number of qualifiers in each sport,” said District 11 chairman Bob Hartman. “For example, if there’s 13 teams in a specific classification, half of that is 6.5 and then we’re rounding that up to the next even number, making it eight minimum qualifiers. If there are teams beyond the minimum that qualify based on their record, they also qualify.

“Any sport that has four teams or less, all of those teams will be in our playoff. Our goal is to have even numbers in many cases, so teams don’t get byes into semifinal rounds and even the playing field across all sports.”

League champions will still get preferential seeding in District 11 brackets, but sports in classifications that are paired with subregional teams, there will be no preferential seeded criteria. Teams will be seeded based on their power rating.

In the fall those sports include boys and girls golf and 4A girls volleyball. In 5A football, since there are only four teams in that classification, there will be a road play-in game with a District 2 opponent in week 12 for entry to the state tournament. In 2017, that play-in game will be in District 11.

As far as other notes to take away from the luncheon, this year’s slate for all six District 11 football championships will be held at neutral sites. Those sites will be determined at a later date.

“People have asked if Liberty and Freedom both meet in the 6A title, where will they play?” said Northwestern athletic director Jason Zimmerman. “I can tell you for sure, that game would be played at BASD Stadium, since we consider that a neutral site.

“We are also looking at potential doubleheaders on that Saturday to help keep things in one area for the fans and media.”

Other notes from the conference included: All championship winning teams or individuals this year will be given District 11 championship T-shirts.

“I just received 28 boxes of 1,500 shirts that will be given out to our student-athletes this year,” Hartman said. “Only championship players will have these shirts to wear in their community.”

• Hartman also noted that efforts to land the District 11 individual wrestling tournament at the PPL Center in Allentown fell through this year because of a conflict with a Phantoms game that couldn’t be moved. Hartman appears steadfast on the idea of having the tournament at the site in the future.

• The PIAA has also adopted a criteria based system from District 11 to provide better seeding at the PIAA tournament, so the top wrestlers in each weight, can be placed on opposite sides of the bracket.

• Coca-Cola Park has seemed to fallen out of the picture for future baseball championship sites, as Lehigh and Lafayette have been narrowed down as venues the district appear happy with.

• In baseball, the PIAA has moved to the standard of only allowing pitchers to throw a maximum of 200 pitches per week.

• The District 11 lacrosse finals may be held at Lehigh as well.

As far as the football schedule for this fall, here are the dates for this year’s postseason.

Friday, Nov. 4, 2016 A, 4, & 5A Semifinals; 6A Quarterfinals

Saturday, Nov 5, 2A Quarterfinals

Friday, Nov. 11, 2016 A, 4A, & 5A Championship Finals; 6A Semifinals

Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016 2A Championship Final; 3A Semifinals

Friday, Nov. 18, 2016 6A Championship Final; 5A DXI Champion vs. DII Champion

Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016 3A Championship Final

Qualification breakdown for all six classes:

Class Teams Bracket Week

A 5 4 12

2A 6 4 12

3A 11 8 13

4A 7 4 12

*5A 4 4 13

6A 13 8 12

*Play-in game at District 2 in Week 12