1st-place Parkway clash might also be WPIAL playoff qualifier — 5 things to watch in Week 9

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, October 24, 2025 | 2:37 AM

Purchase Photo Options

“Go big or go home” surely isn’t the spot West Allegheny planned to be in.

With a win Friday night, the Indians would qualify for the playoffs as the top seed from the always-tough Parkway Conference. But if they were to lose, they could miss the playoffs entirely.

That’s life in WPIAL Class 4A where only eight teams qualify.

West Allegheny (4-4, 3-1) hosts Montour (6-3, 3-1) at 7 p.m. Friday at DeMichela Stadium in the regular season finale. The two teams are tied with New Castle (7-2, 3-1) atop the conference standings. Aliquippa (5-3, 2-2) is one game back and trying to extend its playoff streak to 31 years in a row.

Only teams that finish first or second in the conference are guaranteed playoff spots. New Castle, which visits Blackhawk (3-6, 1-3), could get one.

The other automatic spot would go to either Montour or West Allegheny. The big question then becomes: Will one or two wild cards come from the Parkway?

Entering Friday, the teams in the running for the two at-large bids would seemingly be the loser of the Montour-West Allegheny matchup, Aliquippa, Big Six third-place team Chartiers Valley (6-3) and either Hampton (4-5) or West Mifflin (3-6) from the Greater Allegheny.

If needed, Montour seems in good shape for a wild card with wins over Aliquippa and Big Six champion Trinity. But West Allegheny’s resume includes a Week 1 overtime loss to Chartiers Valley, 29-28, that could hurt the Indians’ hopes.

Wild card teams are chosen at the discretion of the WPIAL football steering committee.

West Allegheny does know a little bit about Week 9 heroics. A year ago, the Indians pulled off a 13-7 overtime win against Montour that created a three-way tie atop the Parkway standings.

Have hope for Hopewell

Life on the playoff bubble isn’t easy, but Hopewell feels better about its chances this year than last.

Hopewell’s resume looks good enough to earn a wild card, even if the most direct path to the playoffs would be a victory over North Catholic in Week 9. A win by six points or more would clinch an automatic berth in the Western Hills, ending the Vikings’ 13-year playoff drought.

They last reached the playoffs in 2012.

“We control our own destiny,” second-year coach Matt Mottes said.

The six points would satisfy the WPIAL margin-of-victory tiebreaker and earn Hopewell third place if the Vikings (6-3, 3-2), North Catholic (6-3, 3-2) and Beaver (5-4, 3-2) all tied.

“If we win by six, we’re an automatic bid,” Mottes said. “If we win by one, two, three or four, we’re 7-3 and we’re getting into the playoffs (as a wild card).”

Hopewell surely isn’t thinking about a loss on Friday, but nonconference wins over New Castle, 31-6, and Freeport, 48-20, should impress the selection committee, if need be. The Vikings also have one of the WPIAL’s top young stars in sophomore quarterback James Armstrong.

Hopewell was in contention last year but got passed over for a wild card. Mottes said his players haven’t forgotten.

“They’ve been extra motivated,” he said.

In no mood to share

South Allegheny can call itself a conference champion for the first time since 1986, but Steel Valley can still make the Gladiators share the honor.

Steel Valley (6-3, 4-1) visits South Allegheny (9-0, 5-0) at 7 p.m. Friday at Gladiator Stadium. A win by the Ironmen would likely create a three-way tie atop the Allegheny Conference.

The third tied team would be Apollo-Ridge (6-3, 4-1), which hosts Ligonier Valley (1-8, 0-5).

“The kids have worked hard and they are excited. They are very focused,” South Allegheny coach Brian Hanson said. “They don’t want to think about sharing the conference with anyone.”

South Allegheny has recently had reason for excitement both during football and boys basketball seasons. The football team is 19-3 over the past two years. The boys basketball team went 27-4 last season, won the WPIAL Class 3A title and reached the state finals.

A standout for both teams is Drew Cook, a senior receiver with 38 receptions for 719 yards and 18 touchdowns.

All-American honor for Sieg

Fort Cherry’s Matt Sieg will travel to San Antonio in January for a national all-star game, but first event organizers are coming here to honor him.

The senior, who committed to play in the Navy All-American Bowl, will be honored Friday when the Road to the Dome Tour visits for Fort Cherry’s home game against Serra Catholic.

The event starts at 6:15 p.m.

A 6-foot, 180-pound safety and quarterback, Sieg ranks as one of the top college recruits in the state. He initially committed to Penn State before re-opening his commitment after the Nittany Lions fired coach James Franklin.

The Navy All-American Bowl is 1 p.m. Jan. 10 at the Alamodome. NBC televises the game live.

Sieg in recent weeks broke two WPIAL career records for touchdowns and total offensive yards.

Building Bridgers

Ambridge will need a new coach after Friday with Sherman McBride set to resign after five seasons. His final game with the Bridgers comes against his alma mater Aliquippa, where he was an all-state player for Don Yannessa and later an assistant coach with Mike Zmijanac.

In 2021, McBride took on the challenge of coaching an Ambridge program that had gone 1-44 in the previous five years. The Bridgers are 11-38 under McBride and reached the playoffs in his first year.

This season, they’re 1-8 overall, 0-4 in the Parkway Conference.

The Mon Valley Independent contributed.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Ambridge, Apollo-Ridge, Beaver, Chartiers Valley, Fort Cherry, Hopewell, Montour, North Catholic, South Allegheny, Steel Valley, West Allegheny