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Mar 15, 2026 By Rob Burchianti 3 min read

Last season Laurel Highlands first-year football coach Aaron Raffle reflected back to his time with the Mustangs when he was asked about the rivalry with crosstown rival Uniontown, which was scheduled as the 2025 opener.

“Laurel Highlands-Uniontown has always been the big game so to me it’s exciting to open up with that,” Raffle said at the time, although he hinted the non-conference game against an independent wasn’t ideal. “When I was playing at LH, Uniontown was always the last game of the season and you sort of looked forward to that.”

A year later Raffle will have his wish.

The Red Raiders, as well as Albert Gallatin, Connellsville and Brownsville, have all rescinded their independent status and rejoined the WPIAL, and Laurel Highlands’ regular-season finale will be a conference game against Uniontown at Mustang Field.

Albert Gallatin will join the Mustangs and Red Raiders in Section 3-4A along with Ringgold, Chartiers Valley and South Fayette.

Laurel Highlands along with Frazier were the only county teams to not drop out of the WPIAL and Raffle was pleased when he saw his team’s 2026 schedule.

“I’m excited about the alignment,” Raffle said. “This is the way high school football is meant to be, local teams playing against each other in meaningful games.”

All three Fayette County teams in the conference have other games against nearby schools.

Connellsville is the lone local team in Section 1-5A but it opens its season with non-conference games at home against Southmoreland, at AG and LH and then at home against Uniontown.

The Falcons then finish with six conference games. They host Penn-Trafford, are at Woodland Hills and Gateway, host Latrobe and Franklin Regional and close the regular season at Fox Chapel.

Albert Gallatin opens with non-conference home games against Burrell, Connellsville and Waynesburg Central, then travels to Yough and Indiana. The Colonials’ conference opener is at Uniontown, followed by games at home against South Fayette, at Ringgold, at home against LH and at Chartiers Valley.

Colonials coach Drew Dindl, who guided his team to a perfect 10-0 season last year, is happy with the WPIAL’s new alignment.

“I like the new conference setup because it gives us the opportunity to compete against strong teams every week, and I think that’s great for our kids and our program,” Dindl said. “I also think the WPIAL handled the out-of-conference scheduling fairly for us and the other teams in the area, and that gives everybody confidence heading back into league play.

“When you look at our overall 2026 schedule, we were also able to keep the important rivalry games like Connellsville Laurel Highlands and Uniontown, and those games mean a lot to the players, the schools, and the community. Our kids were excited when they saw the schedule reveal on Thursday, and I think that says a lot about the kind of group we have.”

Uniontown opens its season against Brownsville then follows with three more non-conference games at home against Ambridge and at Southmoreland and Connellsville. The Red Raiders then open conference play with home games against Yough and AG. They close the season with conference games at Ringgold, at home against Chartiers Valley and then at South Fayette and LH.

Brownsville was put into Section 2-2A and after its game with Uniontown the Falcons have non-conference games at West Greene and Carlynton. Brownsville hosts Apollo-Ridge in its conference opener followed by conference games at South Allegheny and at home against Ligonier Valley. Following a non-conference home game against McGuffey, the Falcons close with conference games at home against East Allegheny and at Charleroi.