The WPIAL is not a conference, it's a governing body much like the OHSAA. Pennsylvania doesn't really have conferences either, they have divisions that schools don't choose to join, you are assigned there based on the size of your school. In PA, there is the WPIAL and the PIAA. The WPIAL is for Western Pennsylvania schools only, and the PIAA is for the whole state. All Western Pennsylvania schools are in both the WPIAL and the PIAA. Schools first compete to win there division in the WPIAL and make the WPIAL playoffs. The championship games of the WPIAL playoffs are played at Heinz Field, and if a team wins that they go on to play in the PIAA playoffs against schools from Eastern Pennsylvania. It's kind of a weird system, but that's how they do things over there.