Butler football team playing in championship game after ongoing debate with WPIAL, PIAA

BUTLER COUNTY — The Butler High School football team didn’t officially know they would be able to play in Friday’s District 10 championship game — until Thursday night.

A commonwealth court judge denied the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association’s request on Thursday, which would’ve kept the Golden Tornado out of the playoffs.

The issue between the Butler school district, the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League and the PIAA has gone on for months.

Butler was in the WPIAL until 2020, but they asked to play in District 10 out of Mercer County because of a lack of success in WPIAL, a lack of student participation and injuries.

The WPIAL agreed, allowing Butler to join as an associate member. The team made the playoffs last year, but the WPIAL board voted to ban the Golden Tornado from any future playoffs.

They upheld that decision in February. But now with the green light official, Butler is excited to play in the game they’ve worked so hard for all season.

“It’s exciting because we spent the whole season not sure where things were going to go or if anything will be heard, and to get it out and actually get heard in front of a judge and then the judge to kind of show that things went well, that was exciting for us,” said Eric Christy, Butler’s head coach.

Butler will be taking on Erie McDowell for the District 10 6a championship.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

Scam warning: Pennsylvania SNAP recipients may be target of new text scheme Scam warning: Pennsylvania SNAP recipients may be target of new text scheme

©2022 Cox Media Group