7 Alle-Kiski Valley teams reach WPIAL football playoffs

By: Greg Macafee
Saturday, October 25, 2025 | 4:54 PM

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When football teams from around the WPIAL take the field next Friday, seven Alle-Kiski Valley teams will be among them, following the bracket release Saturday afternoon.

Of those teams, none was seeded higher than No. 6, two received No. 8 seeds and after its exciting win over Deer Lakes on Friday, Burrell (4-6) sneaked into the Class 3A playoffs, earning a No. 12 seed and a first-round matchup with No. 5 North Catholic (7-3).

“We’re excited to get in and excited for the kids to have the experience, especially with the way they do it now with the release shows. I think that’s an exciting way for the kids to find out if we’re in and who it’d be against,” Burrell coach Dom Girardi said. “It’s a great reward for all their hard work. They’ve been working really hard since the winter workouts and the spring agility practices, and the summer conditioning. So, this is a payoff for all that hard work, and I’m happy they have this opportunity.”

The Bucs, who haven’t earned a playoff win since 2004, have had an up-and-down season. They’ve had three two-game losing streaks but also won three of their final five games. Five of their six losses were against playoff teams, including the top two seeds in Class 3A, Avonworth and Imani Christian.

Led by sophomore quarterback Antonio Perkins, who rushed for 360 yards, scored seven total touchdowns and picked off a pass Friday, Burrell averaged 22 points this season. It also scored a season-high 48 points in its regular-season finale win over the Lancers.

“It is a team thing, but especially with the game Antonio had last night, I would think everybody who is a fan of high school football would be excited for another opportunity to see us play and to see him play,” Girardi said. “Hopefully, we can go up to North Catholic and make a few big plays. They are a very good team, but hopefully we can get up there and we can fight.”

Highlands (7-3) received the highest seed among the seven Alle-Kiski Valley teams, earning the No. 6 seed in the Class 3A playoffs and a home game against No. 11 Derry (6-4).

The Golden Rams enter the postseason on a five-game winning streak after losing three of their first five games. They averaged 37.6 points during that stretch and pitched two shutouts while defeating conference foes Burrell and Freeport. The latter was a one-point thriller Oct. 3.

But that’s what Highlands has become accustomed to in recent years. The Golden Rams have made the playoffs in all four years under Matt Bonislawski but didn’t pick up their first playoff win until last year. Now, Bonislawski and the Rams are looking to build on it.

“Other than last year, we didn’t win a playoff game in 10 years, so that was kinda getting over that hump last year,” Bonislawski said. “Last year was pretty big for just getting the kids to understand. It’s kinda hard if you don’t have any postseason success to change that mindset. When kids are used to it, at the end of the year, of being done, and here comes basketball, here comes wrestling, here comes different things. It’s different once you get to the playoffs and have the mindset that you’re going to advance. I think our kids now, last year, and this year, they feel they can advance a round or two, and they just have that change of mindset.”

As the No. 8 seed in Class 3A, coach John Gaillot and the Yellowjackets (7-3) will look to prove themselves in their first-round matchup against No. 9 Beaver (5-5).

The Yellowjackets won their first six games of the season but have lost three of their last four, against Highlands, Hopewell, and Imani Christian. Freeport played that stretch without a few key players, and Gaillot thinks his team is now in a better spot because of it.

“We lost some kids, but they are back now,” Gaillot said. “That made us better, I believe, with going through adversity and some of those games were pretty close. The Highlands game, we had two key kids out, so it could be a different ball game there. So we’re really excited to be in there.”

There’s still work to be done, however. The Yellowjackets have lost to Beaver twice in the playoffs: once in the 1972 finals and again in 1982. There are things that Gaillot wants to polish up ahead of their first-round matchup.

“We have quite a few things to tweak,” Gaillot said. “They are fixable. We just have to do our job.”

In Class 5A, Kiski Area (4-6) and Plum (5-5) picked up the ninth and 11th seeds, respectively.

The Cavaliers, who will play No. 8 Shaler (3-7), suffered a four-game losing streak earlier in the year after winning their season opener against Knoch. However, they won three of their final five games. They’ll look to snap a 12-game playoff losing streak as their last playoff win came in 1990 against Armstrong Central.

The Mustangs enter the postseason on a three-game winning streak and will face off against No. 6 Upper St. Clair (8-2) in the first round. The teams have met three times in the WPIAL playoffs, with the Panthers winning two of those matchups, including the most recent, a 49-0 shutout in 2004.

The last two Alle-Kiski Valley teams to earn playoff berths were Apollo-Ridge in Class 2A and Leechburg in Class A. The Vikings got the seventh seed and will host No. 10 Riverside (5-5).

The Blue Devils, who won four of their final six games, will host No. 9 Neshannock (7-3). The two teams last met in the playoffs in 1978, and Leechburg won 7-0 in overtime.

Greg Macafee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Greg by email at gmacafee@triblive.com or via Twitter .