5 things we learned in 1st round of WPIAL football playoffs

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, November 5, 2022 | 8:51 PM

The drive home from Burgettstown to Lawrence County takes about an hour, but the Union football team had a slight detour Friday night.

“Our bus driver took a wrong turn, so it added some time,” coach Kim Niedbala said with a laugh, “but it’s all good.”

Winning sure helps everyone’s mood.

Who wouldn’t want an extra 10 or 15 minutes to celebrate? The No. 10-seed Scotties upset No. 7 Burgettstown, 32-7, in a WPIAL Class A first-round game that hinted maybe everyone was asking the wrong questions about the small-school classification.

When the bracket was revealed last weekend, the big question was: Did the WPIAL football committee inflate the Black Hills Conference at the expense of the usually strong Eastern? But after wins Friday by Union, Rochester, South Side and Laurel, maybe the question should’ve been: Are we forgetting about the Big Seven?

“Hey, it doesn’t really matter,” said Niedbala, a first-year coach at Union. “It’s like that every year. Conferences switch all the time.”

Regardless, the Big Seven certainly flexed its muscles in the first round.

Along with Union’s win on the road, No. 14 Rochester defeated No. 3 Greensburg Central Catholic, 36-15; No. 2 Laurel defeated No. 15 Carmichaels, 53-8; and No. 5 South Side defeated No. 12 California, 34-3.

Combined, the Big Seven went 4-0.

The Black Hills teams went 2-2, despite all having home games. The Eastern and Tri-County each finished 1-3.

Rochester and Union received double-digit seeds, but Niedbala said nobody in the Big Seven is surprised today to see all four conference qualifiers still standing.

“They’re four quality teams,” Niedbala said. “You’ve got to remember, two of those teams (Laurel and South Side) dropped down from Double-A, and Rochester is a perennial power.

“So, no, not at all.”

Another first-round upset in Class A involved the most talked-about pairing: No. 9 Clairton vs. No. 8 Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Clairton coach Wayne Wayne had disagreed with the low seed, saying his Bears had deserved a home game.

The Bears backed up their coach’s words and won 45-19.

Start of the Century

The Class A Big Seven wasn’t the only conference that had a perfect night.

The Class 2A Century Conference also went 4-0, with the biggest upset being No. 12 Washington’s 49-21 victory over No. 5 Serra Catholic. Serra was the defending WPIAL champion yet lost to a short-handed Wash High team that was missing quarterback Davoun Fuse, a Rutgers linebacker recruit sidelined with a hip injury.

The other Century wins went to Sto-Rox over Riverside, 29-0; Keystone Oaks over Apollo-Ridge, 21-14; and McGuffey over Mohawk, 34-29.

The Class 4A Big Seven also had an undefeated night, but only three of the four qualifiers played Friday. No. 3 seed Thomas Jefferson had a first-round bye. McKeesport, Laurel Highlands and Latrobe won their way into the quarterfinals Friday.

Freshman football

Woodland Hills starts a trio of freshmen at key spots, so it’s only natural for the Wolverines to be better in Week 10 than Week 1.

That seems to be true.

Woodland Hills’ first touchdown in Friday’s 21-0 win over Franklin Regional was a 44-yard pass from freshman quarterback Cam Walter to freshman receiver William “Scoop” Smith. The Wolverines sneaked into the playoffs with a surprising win over Penn Hills in the regular-season finale, but the Wolverines are showing they belong here.

They’re now in the WPIAL semifinals for the first time since 2013.

“We’ve got three freshmen who are playing high-quality minutes,” Bostard said. “You know as well as I do that the more reps you get and the more game-time experience you get, the better you’re going to get.”

Along with Walter and Smith, freshman Zykir Moore starts at defensive end. A fourth freshman, Jacob Mroz, is the team’s kicker and punter.

No. 6 Woodland Hills (6-5) faces No. 2 Pine-Richland (8-3) next Friday in a rematch from Oct. 21. The Rams won 35-21.

Making playoff history

This was a historic week for three football teams who celebrated wins.

When Latrobe defeated Highlands, 28-21, in overtime, the Wildcats earned their first WPIAL playoff win in 54 years. The football team hadn’t won one since a 19-7 win in 1968 over Kiski Area at Forbes Field.

Two other teams, Mapletown and Ligonier Valley, celebrated their first WPIAL playoff wins in team history. Mapletown defeated Leechburg, 41-28. Ligonier Valley defeated Western Beaver, 27-20.

Ligonier Valley played in the WPIAL from 1927 until 1969, before joining PIAA District 6. The school returned to WPIAL competition in 2020.

Mapletown, a longtime WPIAL member, is having the best season in school history.

East goes south

Say goodbye to the Big East.

The Class 5A conference was the only one eliminated on the first night of the WPIAL playoffs. Franklin Regional, Gateway and Penn-Trafford all lost on Friday night. It was unexpected for a conference that combined had won three of the past five WPIAL titles in 5A.

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.