5 takeaways from Week 5: WPIAL working overtime

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, September 28, 2019 | 8:01 PM

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Not many WPIAL football teams have worked overtime this season, but regulation wasn’t enough for three games Friday night.

That equals the number of WPIAL overtime games in the previous five weeks combined.

In maybe the most dramatic, West Allegheny defeated Woodland Hills, 21-20, in an Allegheny Eight matchup decided by a missed extra point.

William Chamberlain gave Woodland Hills the lead in overtime with a 2-yard touchdown run, but the Wolverines’ extra point was blocked. West Allegheny responded with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Gavin Miller to Kam Kruze.

The Indians won on Breana Gerst’s extra-point kick.

The heartbreaking loss kept Woodland Hills (0-6, 0-5) winless.

Also in overtime Friday, Montour defeated Knoch, 14-7, and Bethel Park defeated Moon, 23-16.

2. A streak ends, others remain

A last-second winning field goal let Ringgold defeat Beaver, 16-13, ending a losing streak that had reached 18 games and ranked among the five longest active in the WPIAL.

The Rams hadn’t won since Oct. 6, 2017, but that wasn’t the longest streak in the WPIAL, a dubious honor that belongs to Uniontown.

The Red Raiders lost 42-29 at Beaver Falls on Friday, extending the team’s streak to 28 consecutive losses. Uniontown’s most recent win was Oct. 14, 2016.

Others with extended losing streaks are Northgate (21 games), Summit Academy (17) and Butler (16). Fort Cherry’s streak reached 14 games Friday, and Ambridge has lost 13 in a row.

3. Another Big East tie?

Might the Class 3A Big East be headed for another three-way tie for the conference title?

A year ago, Derry, Elizabeth Forward and North Catholic finished tied atop the conference, a scenario that’s again a possibility. That’s because North Catholic defeated Derry, 13-3, in Week 4, and Derry defeated Elizabeth Forward, 26-17, on Friday.

Next week, North Catholic hosts Elizabeth Forward at Mars.

North Catholic would take control of the conference with a win. An Elizabeth Forward victory could lead to another three-way tie, unless of course someone else in the conference plays spoiler.

North Catholic (4-0) holds a one-game lead over Elizabeth Forward (3-1) and Derry (3-1), with Burrell (3-2) and Deer Lakes (3-2) two games back.

4. Change at the top

There’s new No. 1 in WPIAL Class 6A.

Undefeated North Allegheny (6-0, 5-0) moved to the top spot in the TribLive HSSN rankings after previous No. 1 Pine-Richland lost Friday to Central Catholic, 29-7. Pine-Richland (5-1, 3-1), the defending WPIAL champion, started the season ranked first.

North Allegheny visits Pine-Richland in Week 9.

5. Perfect records vanish

This was a rough week for previously unbeaten teams. Four WPIAL teams took their first loss in Week 5, leaving 13 undefeated teams.

Along with Pine-Richland, Elizabeth Forward and Knoch, the fourth team was Southmoreland (5-1, 4-1), which lost to undefeated McGuffey, 55-28.

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.