What Schuylkill League School Rules District XI Basketball?

The District XI basketball playoffs are the coal region form of March Madness, even if they start in February.

It’s the time of year that the best Schuylkill League basketball teams get a chance to test their mettle against schools from a slightly broader area.

Do well in the District XI playoffs and you’re moving on to the PIAA state basketball tournament.

Schuylkill League in District XI Basketball Playoffs

A lot of Schuylkill League schools have proud basketball histories. But we wanted to know who’s king and queen of the District XI tournaments among local schools.

To do this, we combed through the District XI basketball archives and tallied up the titles. First thing we learned, no one holds a candle to Allentown Central Catholic. They’re far and away the all-time champs of District XI. The Vikings boys team has won 18 District XI basketball championships dating back to the 1985-86 season. And you can add on another 21 in the girls’ bracket in that time. That’s 39 total trophies!

Schuylkill League teams have their fair share of District XI hardware in their school trophy cases, too. So, let’s find out who’s on top. District XI data available online goes back to the 1985-86 season.

Here’s what we found:

Best Overall School in District XI

There are two teams who are a cut above the rest of the Schuylkill League.

The team with the most overall (boys and girls) District XI basketball championships among Schuylkill League teams is Pine Grove. The Cardinals have brought home a total of 18 District XI championships in basketball.

But they have competition and could actually lose that top spot (or be forced to share) following the 2020 playoffs.

Mahanoy Area is right on the Cards tail with 17 championships.

Two other Schuylkill League teams have double-digit trophy totals: Nativity BVM has won a dozen and North Schuylkill has won 10.

Here’s a full breakdown of Schuylkill League or common Schuylkill League opponents in District XI competition:

• 18: Pine Grove
• 17: Mahanoy Area
• 12: Nativity BVM
• 10: North Schuylkill
• 9: Marian Catholic
• 9: Minersville
• 6: Pottsville
• 5: Blue Mountain
• 5: Schuylkill Haven
• 5: Weatherly
• 4: Williams Valley
• 4: Tri-Valley
• 3: Tamaqua
• 2: Cardinal Brennan
• 1: Shenandoah Valley
• 1: Lehighton
• 0: Jim Thorpe

District XI Basketball Champions – Boys

Schuylkill League teams in the boys’ brackets haven’t done as well as the girls at the District XI level.

However, the top school in District XI boys’ competition is Mahanoy Area. The Golden Bears have won 7 titles since 1985-86.

Here’s how many District XI boys’ basketball championships Schuylkill League teams have won:

• 7: Mahanoy Area
• 5: Pottsville
• 5: Schuylkill Haven
• 5: Marian Catholic
• 4: Blue Mountain
• 4: Williams Valley
• 3: Minersville
• 3: Pine Grove
• 2: Nativity BVM
• 2: Weatherly
• 1: North Schuylkill
• 1: Lehighton
• 0: Tamaqua
• 0: Shenandoah Valley
• 0: Cardinal Brennan
• 0: Jim Thorpe
• 0: Tri-Valley

Here’s a look at the year-by-year breakdown by class for the District XI boys’ basketball championships:

YEAR	CLASS 1A	CLASS 2A	CLASS 3A	CLASS 4A	CLASS 5A	CLASS 6A
2018-19	Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg	Executive Education Academy	Palmerton	Bethlehem Catholic	Pottsville	William Allen
2017-18	Nativity BVM	Moravian Academy	Notre Dame-Green Pond	Bethlehem Catholic	Allentown Central Catholic	East Stroudsburg-South
2016-17	Lincoln Leadership Academy	Marian Catholic	Notre Dame-Green Pond	Bethlehem Catholic	East Stroudsburg-North	Pocono Mountain-West
2015-16	Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg	Minersville	Pottsville	Parkland
2014-15	Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg	Mahanoy Area	Pottsville	Parkland
2013-14	Mahanoy Area	Notre Dame-Green Pond	Allentown Central Catholic	Parkland
2012-13	Mahanoy Area	Notre Dame-Green Pond	Allentown Central Catholic	Parkland
2011-12	Pius X	Pine Grove	Allentown Central Catholic	Pocono Mountain-West
2010-11	Marian Catholic	Salisbury	Allentown Central Catholic	William Allen
2009-10	Marian Catholic	Notre Dame-Green Pond	Pottsville	Liberty
2008-09	Williams Valley	Notre Dame-Green Pond	Southern Lehigh	Parkland
2007-08	Williams Valley	Northern Lehigh	Allentown Central Catholic	Liberty
2006-07	Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg	Notre Dame-Green Pond	Blue Mountain	Easton
2005-06	Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg	Catasaqua	Allentown Central Catholic	William Allen
2004-05	Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg	Notre Dame-Green Pond	Allentown Central Catholic	Whitehall
2003-04	Pius X	Pen Argyl	Allentown Central Catholic	Whitehall
2002-03	Williams Valley	Notre Dame-Green Pond	Blue Mountain	Parkland
2001-02	Weatherly	Pine Grove	Bethlehem Catholic	William Allen
2000-01	Mahanoy Area	Minersville	Allentown Central Catholic	Parkland
1999-2000	Pius X	Williams Valley	Allentown Central Catholic	Parkland
1998-99	Marian Catholic	Mahanoy Area	North Schuylkill	Stroudsburg
1997-98	Mahanoy Area	Northwestern Lehigh	Bethlehem Catholic	Pleasant Valley
1996-97	Schuylkill Haven	Catasaqua	Allentown Central Catholic	Whitehall
1995-96	Nativity BVM	Salisbury	Blue Mountain	Stroudsburg
1994-95	Marian Catholic	Mount Carmel	Allentown Central Catholic	Liberty
1993-94	Minersville	Notre Dame-Green Pond	Allentown Central Catholic	East Stroudsburg
1992-93	Schuylkill Haven	Pine Grove	Allentown Central Catholic	William Allen
1991-92	Schuylkill Haven	Saucon Valley	Allentown Central Catholic	Whitehall
1990-91	Mahanoy Area	Mount Carmel	Blue Mountain	Whitehall
1989-90	Schuylkill Haven	Salisbury	Pottsville	Whitehall
1988-89	Schuylkill Haven	Palmerton	Allentown Central Catholic	Whitehall
1987-88	Freeland	Salisbury	Bangor	William Allen
1986-87	Freeland	Catasaqua	Lehighton	Liberty
1985-86	Weatherly	Panther Valley	Allentown Central Catholic	Emmaus

District XI Basketball Champions – Girls

The Schuylkill League has seen several dynasties in girls basketball over the years. And those teams have enjoyed tremendous success in the District XI tournament.

But no team has won more than the Pine Grove Lady Cardinals. The team has 15 District XI titles dating back to the 1985-86 season. Two other teams who’ve enjoyed long runs of success have 10 wins another another Schuylkill League school has 9 girls’ titles.

Here’s the full list of title winners:

• 15: Pine Grove
• 10: Nativity BVM
• 10: Mahanoy Area
• 9: North Schuylkill
• 6: Minersville
• 4: Tri-Valley
• 4: Marian Catholic
• 3: Weatherly
• 3: Tamaqua
• 2: Cardinal Brennan
• 1: Pottsville
• 1: Blue Mountain
• 1: Shenandoah Valley
• 0: Williams Valley
• 0: Schuylkill Haven
• 0: Jim Thorpe
• 0: Lehighton

Here’s a look at the year-by-year breakdown by class for the District XI girls’ basketball championships:

YEAR	CLASS 1A	CLASS 2A	CLASS 3A	CLASS 4A	CLASS 5A	CLASS 6A
2018-19	Weatherly	Mahanoy Area	Notre Dame-Green Pond	Bethlehem Catholic	Southern Lehigh	Northampton
2017-18	Weatherly	Mahanoy Area	North Schuylkill	Bethlehem Catholic	Southern Lehigh	Freedom
2016-17	Nativity BVM	Minersville	Pine Grove	Bethlehem Catholic	Southern Lehigh	Easton
2015-16	Mahanoy Area	Minersville	Southern Lehigh	Nazareth
2014-15	Shenandoah Valley	Minersville	Bethlehem Catholic	Nazareth
2013-14	Marian Catholic	Minersville	Bethlehem Catholic	Parkland
2012-13	Tri-Valley	Notre Dame-Green Pond	Bethlehem Catholic	Nazareth
2011-12	Tri-Valley	Pine Grove	Allentown Central Catholic	Bangor
2010-11	Tri-Valley	Pine Grove	Tamaqua	Northampton
2009-10	Tri-Valley	Tamaqua	Allentown Central Catholic	Northampton
2008-09	Nativity BVM	Tamaqua	Allentown Central Catholic	Liberty
2007-08	Marian Catholic	Pine Grove	Allentown Central Catholic	William Allen
2006-07	Nativity BVM	North Schuylkill	Allentown Central Catholic	Parkland
2005-06	Nativity BVM	Northwestern Lehigh	Allentown Central Catholic	Freedom
2004-05	Marian Catholic	North Schuylkill	Allentown Central Catholic	Parkland
2003-04	Cardinal Brennan	North Schuylkill	Allentown Central Catholic	Emmaus
2002-03	Cardinal Brennan	Pine Grove	Allentown Central Catholic	Pleasant Valley
2001-02	Nativity BVM	Pine Grove	Allentown Central Catholic	Emmaus
2000-01	Nativity BVM	Pine Grove	Allentown Central Catholic	Emmaus
1999-2000	Nativity BVM	Pine Grove	Allentown Central Catholic	Liberty
1998-99	Nativity BVM	Panther Valley	Blue Mountain	Easton
1997-98	Mahanoy Area	Pine Grove	Allentown Central Catholic	Emmaus
1996-97	Nativity BVM	Palmerton	North Schuylkill	Northampton
1995-96	Mahanoy Area	Pine Grove	North Schuylkill	Allentown Central Catholic
1994-95	Mahanoy Area	Notre Dame-Green Pond	Bethlehem Catholic	Northampton
1993-94	Notre Dame	Pine Grove	Bethlehem Catholic	Allentown Central Catholic
1992-93	Notre Dame	Pine Grove	Bethlehem Catholic	Allentown Central Catholic
1991-92	Notre Dame	Pine Grove	Bethlehem Catholic	Allentown Central Catholic
1990-91	Nativity BVM	Mahanoy Area	Allentown Central Catholic	Pottsville
1989-90	Minersville	Mahanoy Area	North Schuylkill	Allentown Central Catholic
1988-89	Mahanoy Area	Minersville	Pine Grove	Allentown Central Catholic
1987-88	Mahanoy Area	Catasaqua	North Schuylkill	Whitehall
1986-87	Notre Dame	Pine Grove	Allentown Central Catholic	Freedom
1985-86	Weatherly	Marian	North Schuylkill	Whitehall

 

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