Northwest Pennsylvania Regional
| Northwest Pennsylvania Regional | |
|---|---|
| General Information | |
| Map | |
| Location | PennWest Clarion |
| State |  Pennsylvania
|
| Member of SO Since | 1995 (1987 as Western Regional) |
| Total teams | 10 B, 9 C |
| Division B Champion | Wilmington Area Middle School |
| Division C Champion | State College Area High School |
| Date | 3/15/2025 |
The Northwest Pennsylvania regional is held at PennWest Clarion, after being held at Penn State Behrend for over a decade. As of the 2024-25 season, the region serves Butler, Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Mercer, Potter, Tioga, Venango, and Warren counties.
History
The Northwest region has a rich history of high-placing teams. Although its teams currently struggle to be competitive at the state level, Northwest has produced several national qualifiers at the B Division level and several top-10 finishers at the C Division level.
Western Regional
In 1987, the first year that Pennsylvania hosted regional tournaments, Clarion University played host to the Western Regional. The regional was only run in the high school division, and was won by Montour High School. The regional would expand to both divisions in 1988, and participation would continue to grow over the next few years. Franklin Regional Middle School and Gateway Senior High School were the most successful schools of the Western Regional era.
In 1992, Westminster College in New Wilmington took over as host of the West Regional, and would continue to host until 1994.
Split Into Northwest Regional
In 1995, the Western Regional split into two regionals due to growth, with California University of Pennsylvania hosting the new Southwest Pennsylvania Regional, and Westminster College continuing to host the Northwest regional. Due to the region's location, many schools that currently compete in the Southwest region, such as Pittsburgh Allderdice High School and Montour High School, competed in the Northwest region instead.
During this period, the most successful teams by far were Kane Area Middle School and Clarion Area Junior High School, both of the B Division. Both teams regularly finished as the top two teams in the division, and in both 1996 and 2000, they finished second and third in the state, respectively. From 2012 to 2022, Kane Area Middle School was the only team competing in the Northwest region to have qualified for the national tournament.
Changing Membership
From 2002 to 2006, Shady Side Academy Middle School and Shady Side Academy High School both competed in the Northwest region, and Sewickley Academy competed in the region in 2006. These schools posted very strong results, and are the most recent schools to qualify for the national tournament while represeting the Northwest regional. All of these schools competed in the Southwest Pennsylvania Regional from 2007 onwards, as the regional site moved back to Clarion University for the first time since the 1991 Western Regional.
In 2008, State College Area High School left the Central Pennsylvania Regional and began competing in this region, as Clarion University was closer to Millersville University, which is where the Central Region had moved to. They did so until 2012, when they moved back to the Central region. Likewise, the two middle schools that feed into State College, Mount Nittany Middle School and Park Forest Middle School, began competing in the region in 2008 and left in 2012.
Recent History
After the departure of the State College schools, Wilmington Area Middle School and Wilmington Area High School had short stays as the top teams in the region, followed by a period where several other teams won regional championships. Strong finishes at the state tournament were elusive during this period, as the only team to finish in the top 20 between 2013 and 2019 was North Clarion Junior High School at the 2019 Pennsylvania State Tournament (20th).
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Northwest Regional was not held in 2020 or 2021. In 2021, Northwest teams competed in a temporary West Regional with Southwest teams. In 2022, the Northwest region held its own tournament once again, though numbers have not yet recovered to pre-COVID levels.
From 2014 to 2023 (excluding 2020 and 2021), the regional was held at Penn State Behrend in Erie. In 2024, the regional returned to Clarion, now named PennWest Clarion. In 2025, teams from Centre County, including State College High School and Park Forest and Mount Nittany Middle Schools, returned to the Northwest regional.
Past Regional Champions
This is a record of the past regional champions and runners up, and their respective places at the state competition. Scores at the regional and state competitions may be shown in parentheses. This region typically sends 4-6 teams to states per division.
Western Regional results from before 1995 are shown in this table.
- 1 These placements represent the relative placements of Northwest Regional teams based on the results of the combined West Regional. See Southwest Pennsylvania Regional for full West Regional results.
- 2 Clarion Area Junior High School tied for third place with 88 points, but lost the gold medal tiebreaker.
- 1 Jefferson-Morgan High School also tied with 90 points, but lost the tiebreaker.
- 2 Venango Catholic High School defeated Laurel Senior High School on tiebreaks.
- 3 Did not attend state tournament.
- 4 These placements represent the relative placements of Northwest Regional teams based on the results of the combined West Regional. See Southwest Pennsylvania Regional for full West Regional results.
Past Scores
- 2010 B/C
- 2011 B/C (Not Available)
- 2012 B/C (Not Available)
- 2013 B/C
- 2014 B/C
- 2015 B/C
- 2016 B/C
- 2017 B/C
- 2018 B/C
- 2019 B/C
- 2022 B
/C - 2023 B /C
- 2024 B/C
- 2025 B /C
Active Teams
NOTE: This is a list of all teams that registered for the 2024 version of this regional. For a more complete list of all teams that have competed in this regional, please see Pennsylvania#Teams.
Division B
Division C
External Links
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