WPIAL Playoff Picture

1. Woodland Hills (5-0)

2. Central Catholic (4-1)

3. Penn Hills (3-2)

4. Plum (2-3)

Plum wins the casket match with Kiski to get into the playoffs. Woodland Hills is going to be a force to be reckoned with in AAAA.

1. Gateway (6-0)

2. McKeesport (5-1)

3. Latrobe (3-3)

4. Penn Trafford (3-3)

Penn Trafford wins their casket match with Norwin to move on. Like last year, Gateway beats McKeesport for the title and will likely have one of the top seeds in AAAA.

1. Bethel Park (5-0)

2. Upper St. Clair (3-2)

3. Mt. Lebanon (3-2)

4. Baldwin (2-3)

Canon-Mac needed to beat Peters Township to get in over Baldwin in a tiebreaker, but fell short. The Fighting Highlanders hold on to the last spot and will be playing next week. Bethel Park is the defending AAAA Champions.

1. North Allegheny (5-0)

2. Shaler (4-1)

3. Seneca Valley (3-2)

4. North Hills (2-3)

The Northern Six often get disrespected when it comes to WPIAL seeding because they don’t get the press that the East Hills schools (Gateway, McKeesport, Woodland Hills) or Central Catholic get. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. NA could be like Bethel Park last year and come out of nowhere to surprise people.

1. Thomas Jefferson (6-0)

2. Chartiers Valley (5-1)

3. Belle Vernon (3-3)

4. Trinity (3-3)

Disaster averted here as Belle Vernon and Trinity took care of business. TJ will be the #1 seed in AAA as the defending champions and the outright best AAA team in the state.

1. Mars (4-1)

2. Franklin Regional (4-1)

3. Knoch (3-2)

4. Hampton (3-2)

Mars beat Knoch 7-3 tonight to claim the conference title on the head-to-head tiebreaker over FR. Knoch beat Hampton head-to-head and gets the #3 spot. None of these teams can beat TJ.

1. Greensburg Salem (6-0)

2. Uniontown (5-1)

3. Derry Area (3-3)

4. Laurel Highlands (3-3)

It happens every year that there is a conference that is swept in the first round. Don’t be surprised if it’s the Keystone Conference this year. Not saying that they’re bad, but there are a lot of other good teams out there too.

1. Hopewell (6-0)

2. West Allegheny (5-1)

3. New Castle (4-2)

4. Montour (3-3)

If there’s any team in AAA that can beat TJ, it’s Hopewell. Hopewell will have the #2 seed in the bracket and have a collision course set with TJ for the title game in Heinz Field.

1. Shady Side Academy (8-1)

2. Freeport (7-1)

3. Burrell (7-2)

4. Kittanning (6-3)

Freeport has a game tomorrow that doesn’t matter because they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker against Burrell. Kittanning won their casket match against Ford City 23-22. SSA has been having some great seasons in conference the last three years but has failed to reach Heinz Field. Is this the year they break through?

1. South Fayette (8-0)

2. Keystone Oaks (8-1)

3. Sto-Rox (7-2)

4. Steel Valley (6-3)

South Fayette quietly put together one of the best AA seasons around this year. I say quietly because Sto-Rox got all the press for their QB, a Penn State recruit. Seton-La Salle, a perennial powerhouse on the Century Conference, finished at 4-5 and will be watching the playoffs from home. KO is a dangerous team that could make some noise in the playoffs. Don’t be surprised if all 4 of these teams win their first round games.

1. Mt Pleasant (9-0)

2. McGuffey (7-2)

3. Greensburg Central Catholic (7-2)

4. Washington (6-3)

Powerhouse Jeanette failed to reach the playoffs and constant contender GCC will have to start off the playoffs on the road because they lost head-to-head against McGuffey.

1. Center (7-1)

2. Beaver Falls (7-1)

3. Aliquippa (7-1)

4. Beaver Area (5-3)

Aliquippa, Beaver Falls, and Center are all 1-1 against each other. Based on the WPIAL tiebreak procedure, the next tiebreaker is point differential. WPIAL has a different way of calculating PD in that point margins only count up to 10. Any victory/defeat over 10 points is counted as +/-10. By this, Aliquippa has a +51, Beaver Falls +57, and Center +68. Center wins the conference title, and all 3 teams remain threats in the WPIAL AA bracket.

1. Rochester (6-0)

2. Laurel (5-1)

3. Monaca (4-2)

4. South Side Beaver/Shenango/Western Beaver

This conference is still in the same place it was earlier today. All of their games are Saturday afternoon. Either Rochester of Clairton will have the #1 overall seed going into the playoffs.

1. Clairton (7-0)

2. Fort Cherry (5-2)

3. Serra Catholic (5-2)

4. Burgettstown (3-4)

Fort Cherry beat Serra head-to-head and gets the home game that comes with a #2 finish. In a 3-way tie for the last playoff spot, Burgettstown edges it out with a PD margin: Burgettstown +5, Chartiers-Houston -3, Frazier -21. Clairton, the defending WPIAL Class A Champions, will be one of the top seeds with Rochester.

1. North Catholic (7-0)

2. Avonworth (5-2)

3. Brentwood (5-2)

4. Springdale (5-2)

North Catholic wins their first conference title in….well, what seems like forever. They’ll have a tough road to Heinz Field (the House that NC alum Dan Rooney built). The other three teams are dangerous and could make some noise against lesser competition in the first few rounds. Three-way PD tiebreaker: Avonworth +36, Springdale +30, Brentwood +25 gives Avonworth the #2 spot. Brentwood beat Springdale head-to-head. Springdale might be the best #4 team in Class A.

1. Monessen (7-0)

2. Beth-Center (5-1)

3. Jefferson-Morgan (5-2)

4. Carmichaels (4-3)

Monessen is the only team here that will make any noise, likely the only team that will get out of the first round depending on the matchups.

What a night. All but 1 playoff spot has been decided. We’ll probably post our predictions once the bracket is announced on Monday evening.