To many, the pairing stuck out like a red apple in a basket of oranges.

On Friday at 7 p.m. in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A playoffs, District 2 champion North Pocono—unbeaten in its 12 games—plays at District 1 champion Bishop Shanahan, a team that lost four of its 12 contests this season.

Puzzled fans flooded inboxes and social media sites, wondering how an undefeated team could be scheduled to play a true road game, in the playoffs, against a team with a far inferior record.

Rest assured, there are no evil forces at play here. In fact, it is the PIAA’s attempt to achieve fairness in its postseason football scheduling.

Getting there may lead to some confusing road trips for really good teams, but it’s really quite a simple process.

Just about everything the PIAA does when it comes to all things scholastic sports happens on a two-year cycle. That includes playoff scheduling, and the policies are clear.

POLICY 1: In the first round of the football playoffs, the team at the top of the bracket is the home team. Unless the teams playing each other come from separate sides of the association’s East and West regional breakdowns, the team at the top of the bracket effectively hosts the game. If that team’s home stadium “does not meet the requirements of the Facility and Field Checklist” — the most common missed requirement being that it doesn’t have artificial turf — the game will be scheduled at a site within that team’s district.

POLICY 2: In the event a matchup between programs from the East and West regions arises, and they don’t come from neighboring districts, the game’s site is selected “in consultation with the respective District Football Chairmen and the PIAA Tournament Director,” according to the PIAA handbook.

The PIAA does reserve the right to consider “other relevant criteria” if deemed appropriate. But the playoff scheduling for each of the District 2 champions this season can be explained easily within the parameters of the first two policies.

Let’s start with the aforementioned North Pocono trip to Bishop Shanahan.

That’s an easy one, explained by the first policy: Shanahan was at the top of the bracket. It has a field that meets the criteria to host. So, it hosts. Last season — the first year of the two-year cycle — the District 2 Class 4A champion, Valley View, was on the top line and hosted District 1 champ Pope John Paul II at John Henzes/Veterans Memorial Stadium. Records don’t matter. The positioning on the bracket does.

In short, last year was District 2’s opportunity to host that game; now, it is District 1’s.

Compared to other matchups, the reasoning behind that one is cut-and-dried.

For example, District 2 Class 2A champion Lakeland (11-1) plays District 12 champion Lansdale Catholic (10-2) on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Germantown Super Site. Lansdale is at the top of the bracket; District 12 uses the Germantown Super Site as its neutral home field, and games can only be played in the afternoon in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, District 2 Class 1A champion Lackawanna Trail (11-1) faces District 4 champion Line Mountain (11-0) on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Shamokin High School. Line Mountain is on top of the bracket, so is the host, but its stadium has a natural grass field and is under an evaluation for improvements. So, the PIAA scheduled the game for a stadium within District 4.

Both of those games in 2024 were played within District 2. Riverside played Lansdale Catholic at Mid Valley’s Spartan Stadium in the Class 2A first-rounder, while Lackawanna Trail “hosted” Muncy at Scranton’s Memorial Stadium. Both Riverside and Lackawanna Trail play home games on natural grass, so those games were moved to two of District 2’s premier turf fields. But again, the same rule applies: This year was the opposite district’s chance to host.

The second policy comes into play with two District 2 champions facing opponents from the West region.

Delaware Valley (7-5) plays District 6 champion Hollidaysburg (11-0) at Danville High School on Friday at 7 p.m. in the PIAA Class 5A first round. Wilkes-Barre Area (8-4) plays District 6 champion State College (9-2) at Milton High School on Saturday at 1 p.m.

The sites for those two games were chosen by the PIAA “in consultation with the respective District Football Chairmen” with proximity in mind. Both games between the District 2 and 6 champions are being played at sites in District 4, the district between both and as close to a midway point as possible travel-wise.

The Class 3A bracket may be more confusing. Last season, because the districts have a similar number of teams competing, the PIAA football committee agreed to have District 2, District 3, and District 4 hold eight-team playoffs, with their champions technically entering the state playoffs in the quarterfinals that begin Nov. 21.

This season, District 4 and District 2 play in the first round, which forced a reduction in the number of District 2 qualifiers from eight to four, with the District 4 champion as the host district because, again, it is at the top of the bracket this year.

So, the game between District 2 champion Scranton Prep and District 4 champ Mifflinburg is at a neutral site of Milton High School on Friday at 7 p.m. because Mifflinburg has a natural grass field.

Of course, there can also be exceptions, as some fans pointed out: District 12 Class 5A champion Roman Catholic, the team on top of the bracket, playing at the District 11 champion Whitehall, is the glaring one.

Because Roman Catholic does not have a specific home football field, and since there are conflicts with available suitable sites in District 12 and the adjacent District 1 — and because of the inability to play at night in Philly — the chairman of the district agreed to play the game at Whitehall, which has an artificial surface, PIAA executive director Robert Lombardi explained.

The point is, there is always a method.

There is a lot of time put into finalizing these sites because there are many moving parts to hosting a PIAA contest on the day of the game.

Now, with that cleared up to the best of my ability, enjoy the games.