5 things to watch in Week 1: Aliquippa’s new coach debuts in battle of state champions

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, August 30, 2024 | 1:27 AM

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Some coaching jobs come with more pressure than others.

Consider that Aliquippa’s Vashawn Patrick is the new head coach of a team coming off a state championship season, and his first game is against another defending state champion.

There is no easing into his job.

Aliquippa hosts Belle Vernon at 7 p.m. Friday in a game that pairs the reigning PIAA 4A champion Quips and the 3A champion Leopards. Neither team played a Week Zero game, so this is the season opener for both.

“Everybody is anxious to see what I can do,” said Patrick, 43, who took over as interim coach in July when Mike Warfield stepped away. “The kids have been very receptive. They’ve been practicing hard, getting after it and doing everything I’ve asked of them.”

Patrick had served as an assistant coach for 16 seasons, which matches the number of years in a row Aliquippa has played in the WPIAL finals. The Quips went 14-0 last season and won their third state title in six years.

Belle Vernon and coach Matt Humbert are coming off a 13-1 season that ended with their second consecutive PIAA 3A title.

“It’s the clash of the titans,” Patrick said.

There were 18 first-year coaches in the WPIAL and City League this season including Patrick. Sixteen made their debuts last week, going 7-9 combined. New Springdale coach Chad Walsh debuts Friday against Chartiers-Houston.

Aliquippa held a scrimmage with Erie High last weekend. In the days since, the Quips got into their traditional pregame practice routines, but Patrick said the week hasn’t necessarily felt routine.

“Not yet,” he said. “Once I get the first one under my belt, I think it will. It feels like I’m about to play my first game.”

A standout player for the Quips, the 2000 graduate later played defensive back at Kent State. Patrick’s high school debut would’ve been in 1997, when he was a sophomore, and he had a pretty good game that day. Patrick remembers it being a game in Ambridge against the Bridgers.

“I made the interception to seal the win and got player of the game,” he said with a laugh. “It was a game to remember.”

Friday’s could be, too.

Out of their hands

In Week Zero, the schools chose the matchups. But starting here in Week 1, the rest of the regular-season games are scheduled by the WPIAL.

McKeesport coach Matt Miller jokingly wonders who he upset at the WPIAL office. His Tigers drew a Week 1 matchup with defending 5A champion Peters Townships, followed by nonconference clashes with Thomas Jefferson, Belle Vernon and Upper St. Clair. All four are considered WPIAL contenders in their classification.

“I don’t know who I got mad, but I must’ve got somebody,” Miller said with a laugh.

The WPIAL in recent years has hand-picked nonconference matchups while trying to create competitive games. McKeesport, ranked fourth in 4A, was the WPIAL runner-up last year, earning the Tigers a tough schedule.

There are a number of notable matchups in Week 1. Central Catholic and Pine-Richland renew their rivalry, having met 14 times in the past 10 years, including three WPIAL finals matchups.

Run for the Hills

Penn Hills vs. Woodland Hills was a Week 9 conference matchup the past two seasons with major playoff implications.

Not this time.

Now in separate conferences, they’ll meet Friday at the Wolvarena for a Week 1 game that won’t count toward a playoff berth or winning any conference title. But it’s far from meaningless. This game could influence the opinions of the WPIAL football committee in a few months when it comes time to award seeds.

Plus, the WPIAL has empowered the committee to choose all wild card teams this year, so a strong nonconference win might go a long way, if needed.

Penn Hills won this matchup last season, 26-21, and Woodland Hills won, 7-3, in 2022. Each time, the winner qualified for the playoffs and the loser did not.

Waiting for Week 1

Ten WPIAL football teams that skipped Week Zero will play their season openers Friday night.

Since 2016, the PIAA has let teams decide whether to hold a second preseason scrimmage or schedule an actual game in so-called Week Zero. The schools’ decisions were split more evenly in the first couple of years, but now the vast majority schedules a game.

Choosing to wait for Week 1 this year were Aliquippa, Belle Vernon, Beth-Center, Bishop Canevin, Burgettstown, Carmichaels, Riverview, Springdale, Union and West Allegheny. Springdale had scheduled a Week Zero game but canceled it because of injuries.

No. 1 vs. No. 2

Steel Valley slipped from the top spot in the WPIAL rankings after a Week Zero loss, but the Ironmen have a chance to make amends this week.

Second-ranked Steel Valley (0-1) hosts new No. 1 Washington (1-0) in a nonconference matchup Friday. The teams are consistent contenders in WPIAL Class 2A but have met only five times since 2010.

Their three most recent games were in the WPIAL playoffs, including a championship game matchup in 2017, won by Washington, 37-10. Their latest game was in 2018, when Steel Valley won, 39-7, in the WPIAL quarterfinals.

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.