When the football teams at Mars and Knoch take a look around at their new surroundings, they see a mix of familiarity and the unknown.

The WPIAL released its six-class realignment on Monday. The Planets and Knights, now both in Class 4A, have been placed in Section 1 along with Ambridge, Blackhawk, Highlands, Indiana, Montour, New Castle and South Fayette.

The alignment will take effect for the next two school years and comes after the PIAA announced last fall that it was moving to six classifications in football.

“We still have some old rivalries there with Knoch and Indiana and that was good to see,” said Mars coach Scott Heinauer. “Highlands is a renewed rivalry. It will be interesting to see what some of the other teams have and I’m sure they’ll be interested to see us.”

Highlands was a Greater Allegheny Conference foe of Mars and Knoch as late as 2013 before dropping to Class AA. South Fayette won back-to-back WPIAL and PIAA Class AA titles in 2013-14. Over the last three seasons, the Lions went a combined 44-1, with the only loss coming against Aliquippa in last fall’s WPIAL championship game.

How quickly will South Fayette be able to translate its success to Class 4A?

Heinauer’s guess is not long.

“They are a perennial power and will be contenders really fast,” said Heinauer. “I know (head coach) Joe Rossi and they have a great program.”

In classes 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A, only eight teams will make the WPIAL playoffs, down from 16 in recent years.

Since one less week will be needed for the district’s postseason, teams in those four classes can elect to hold another scrimmage at the start of the season or schedule a non-conference game. Those four classes will also have their championship games played at Heinz Field. In contrast, classes 1A and 2A, which will both include 16 playoff bids, will have their district title games played at other venues.

In Class 6A, Butler and Seneca Valley remain conference opponents in Section 1 and will face usual foes North Allegheny, Shaler, Pine-Richland and Central Catholic. All of those teams competed in the former Quad A Northern Eight Conference, which also included North Hills and Fox Chapel. Both of those teams have dropped down to 5A. To fill some of the void, Penn Hills is now on the conference slate for both the Golden Tornado and Raiders.

Freeport moves to Section 2 in 3A along with Apollo-Ridge, Burrell, Deer Lakes, Keystone Oaks, Seton-LaSalle, Shady Side Academy and Valley.

“I think the WPIAL did the best it could after what the PIAA handed it,” said Freeport coach John Gaillot, “but I’ve always believed that if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. I feel we should have left the WPIAL the way it was and forget about the state playoffs.

“I’m really disappointed that only eight teams out of 23 go to the playoffs from our class. It is what it is, though, and we’ll have to adjust.”