The Northern Conference features the defending WPIAL and PIAA Champion Penn Hills Indians. Penn Hills completed a perfect season last year and enter 2019 with the longest winning streak in the WPIAL at 16 games. Last season also saw Shaler break their WPIAL-leading 24-game losing streak. The Titans went on to make their first playoff appearance in seven years. Six of the eight Northern Conference teams qualified for the playoffs last year with Kiski earning the 6th place Wild Card.
The playoff format in 5A is mostly the same as last year. The playoffs will consist of 16 teams with the Championship Game played on Friday, November 22 at Norwin High School.