The 1970’s was the decade where District XI really began to break through at the state level. The ’70’s saw the end of only the champions advancing to the next level in the post season as the regional and then state tournament brackets expanded. In 1973, the Catholic league schools joined the PIAA. In 1974, one class gave way to Class A for larger schools and Class B for smaller schools. Shortly after, Class A and B morphed into Classes AAA and AA.
The 1970’s would see District XI crown 33 state champions including “The Magnificent Seven” in AAA in 1976. Easton’s Bobby Weaver won three state titles. Saucon Valley won the first official Class AAA state team title.
Easton won 5 and shared 1 East Penn title while Liberty won 3; Bethlehem Catholic won one and share one title. There was a major league realignment during the 1975-76 season that led to the end of the Lehigh-Northampton and Lehigh Valley leagues and formation of the Colonial and Centennial Leagues. Hellertown / Saucon Valley held the edge over Nazareth in the LNL / Colonial Leagues. Lehighton had great success in the early-mid 1970’s in the LVL/Centennial Leagues with Notre Dame coming on strong in the late 1970’s.