Mike Vukovcan Over the next two seasons, the Hopewell Viking football team will be having some new section competition.
Due to updating enrollment numbers and their new competition formula, every two years the WPIAL realigns sections in all of their conferences.
Over the last couple of years, Hopewell was in a section with Avonworth, North Catholic, Beaver, Central Valley, Quaker Valley and McGuffey.
That will change for the 2026 and 2027 seasons.
The WPIAL will officially announce the new sections next Wednesday, but Vikings Sports Now can give you a little inside when it comes to the Vikings.
For the next two years, here’s the five teams that will be in Class 3A/Section 3: Hopewell, Aliquippa, Beaver, Ambridge, OLSH and Ellwood City.
The notable departures are North Catholic, who will be moving to a different section in 3A, same with Avonworth, who’s expected to be in a section with Imani Christian and Central Valley, who’s moving up to 4A.
With this alignment, it would be nice to see Hopewell vs. Aliquippa as the last game of the season. With the talent in both programs, you would imagine it could be a meaningful game with a lot on the line.
Now with 6 known opponents, the next question is who will Hopewell’s 5 opponents be in non-conference?
A lot of factors go into this so it’s not as easy as calling a school and asking them to play. Plenty of things could impact a school’s decision. Bottom line is sometimes ‘it takes two to tango’.
The biggest reason for most of these names is that I believe playing local/area teams is very important and it’s also a good thing for the fans.
That being said, in a perfect world, here are schools that I’m hoping to see on Hopewell’s 2026 schedule
-Blackhawk
-West Allegheny
-Central Valley
-Beaver Falls
-New Castle
