The Road To Three Rivers Stadium Has Been
Paved
By Paul Paterra
The
road to Three Rivers Stadium has been paved. The 60 teams in the WPIAL
playoffs now know which route they need to take to
get to the home of the
Steelers and Pirates, for a chance to play for a WPIAL football
championship. On the surface, this
year's tournament appears to be
wide-open. A number of teams can go to Three Rivers Stadium and bring home
the trophies that
go to the WPIAL champions.
"This was not an easy task," said WPIAL
Executive Director Larry Hanley. "It was not easy to put
these together."
Hanley revealed the pairings Monday at the Radisson Hotel in Green Tree.
Woodland Hills received the top
seed in Quad A, West Allegheny is number
one in Class AAA, Aliquippa is the top seed in Class AA and South Side
Beaver earned
the top spot in Class A. "This is the best tournament in the
state, and in my opinion it's one of the best in the country,"
said WPIAL
President Pat Ratesic. Each of the four WPIAL championship games will be
Nov. 27 at Three Rivers Stadium.
(top/left)
WPXI's John Fedko interviews
Woodland Hills
coach, George Novak.
(bottom/left)
WTAE's Andrew Stockey and
Operation Football interviews
Quad A
Woodland Hills - the top seed - will be
tested in the first round. Connellsville will come to the Wolvarena Friday
night,
bringing the WPIAL's leading rusher Marcus Furman. Second-seed
North Hills will host McKeesport and the Tigers' potent
triple-option
offense. Penn Hills will host Norwin at Andrew Yuhas Stadium. When the
Indians won the state title in 1995,
they started their postseason run at
home against Norwin. "They're very good and very physical," said Norwin
coach Tim McCabe
of the Indians. "We've got to go there and give them a
game." Other first-round matchups have Mt. Lebanon hosting Seneca
Valley,
Bethel Park at New Castle, Baldwin hosting Gateway, Ringgold traveling to
Greensburg-Salem and Penn-Trafford playing
host to North
Allegheny.
CLASS
AAA
Each of the top four seeds has a bye during the first week of
competition. Following West Allegheny is Belle Vernon, Moon and
Burrell.
This weekend does present some interesting matchups. West Mifflin will
host Highlands in an intriguing contest
between two top notch defensive
teams. West Mifflin has allowed but 99 points this season, Highlands
73.
NSN's
Marty Caridi chats with West Allegheny coach (top) Bob Palko and Pine
Richland coach (bottom) Claire Altemus. The reward for the
winner is a
clash with West Allegheny Ambridge; Pine Richland will travel in the
playoffs for the first time since 1992. The
Rams have a dynamite one-two
punch in quarterback Vincent Cerosimo and running back Steve Devennie. The
two teams met in a
10th week game last season, with Pine-Richland winning
42-36. Other matchups have Thomas Jefferson hosting Hopewell and its
bevy
of talented backs, including 1,000-yard rushers Josh Long and Jason
Burkett, and Elizabeth Forward traveling to Valley.
EF boasts running back
Pat Risha, who has surpassed 3,000 yards rushing in his career; and Valley
has talented quarterback Dom
Giradi, who has thrown for more than 1,200
yards this season. "They have a lot of good athletes," Elizabeth Forward
coach
Rich Bowen said of Valley. "They have two or three running backs that
are inter-
changeable. We have our work cut out for us."
CLASS AA
(right)
NSN broadcast team covered the event live. Click on the Pairings Show if you missed it.
Aliquippa opens its
playoff run against Freeport. The Quips won five WPIAL titles in the
1980s, but haven't collected the
championship hardware since 1991.
Exciting Bernard Lay leads the Quips from his quarterback position. Steel
Valley is the
number two seed. The Ironmen host Mohawk Saturday at
Campbell Field. Steel Valley has shown the ability to pass
with
quarterback Luke Getsy, run with running back Devin Wilson and stop
the opposition with a staunch defense led by linebacker
Dan Drane. Other
first-round matchups have third-seeded Waynesburg hosting South Park,
fourth-seeded Center playing host to
Seton-LaSalle, Beaver Falls at
Jeannette, Shady Side Academy traveling to Washington in a rematch of last
year's WPIAL title
game, North Catholic hosting Quaker Valley and
Brownsville entertaining Mars.
CLASS A
South Side Beaver hosts California in the first
round. If the Rams are fortunate enough to win that game, matters get a
bit
tougher. The next game would come against the winner of the
Carmichaels-Riverview game. Clairton hosts Farrell in a contest
between
the two combatants in the 1990 WPIAL championship game. Farrell won that
game 39-0. "I think (our players) are going
to be excited to play a team
with the rich tradition we have," said Clairton coach Joe Fischer. If
Clairton wins, it gets the
winner of the Fort Cherry Frazier matchup. Fort
Cherry and Clairton have played each other in the playoffs the last two
years.
Other first-round matchups have Greensburg Central Catholic at South
Fayette, Rochester hosting Brentwood, Monaca traveling to
Duquesne and
Monessen hosting Chartiers Houston.
Back