This high school football season is winding down.

Next high school football season is already getting interesting.

The PIAA has announced its enrollment re-classification for the next two years and Butler County area teams will definitely be affected.

Butler and Seneca Valley will stay in Class 6A, but only seven other WPIAL teams will be staying there with them. The Northern Seven will lose Penn Hills and Shaler as their enrollment will dip to Class 5A.

Joining Butler and SV in WPIAL 6A next year will be North Allegheny, Hempfield, Mt. Lebanon, Central Catholic, Norwin, Pine-Richland and Canon-McMillan. Altoona would have been a tenth team, but the Mountain Lions are opting out of WPIAL football.

So how will District 7 (WPIAL) structure itself next year at the highest classification?

Since all nine teams will likely play each other during the regular season anyway, it seems logical to have one nine-team league. The question is how to set up the playoffs.

Do the top eight make the postseason with only the basement dweller being left out? That would be awkward as you could actually have a 1-8 team go to the playoffs in that scenario.

The likely option is taking the top six teams, with the first and second-place teams drawing a first-round bye. That would set up three rounds of playoff games to determine the WPIAL champion.

Mars is moving up to Class 5A, which takes the Planets out of the Northwest Nine and away from rival Knoch. Mars will also be the only county football team in Class 5A next season.

It is hard to believe Mars and Knoch won’t play each other next year. But with WPIAL Class 5A swelling from 18 teams to 22, both teams may only have one game they are free to schedule on their own.

If Mars and Knoch choose to play each other, the prospect of a Butler-Knoch season opener — something that has been talked about since the latter two have paired for a second scrimmage in recent years — would likely go by the boards.

Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic is moving up to Class 3A, meaning the Trojans will likely find themselves in the same section as Freeport. The Yellowjackets won’t be seeing Seton-La Salle next year as the Rebels are dropping to Class 2A.

Karns City will be dropping down to Class 2A, the same division as rival Moniteau. Of course, those two teams will be playing each other every year regardless of classification.

One other thing ... Teams do have the option of playing up in class. No team can play down in class.

Perhaps Bethel Park or Penn Hills will opt to stay in Class 6A. Bethel Park would be the more likely to do so, thus staying with rival Mt. Lebanon.

You never know.

This is what six classifications in football does.

I’m wondering if the WPIAL yearns for the good ole days.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle