5 things to watch in WPIAL opening round: Wild card decisions under scrutiny

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, November 1, 2024 | 9:02 AM

Did the WPIAL football committee get the wild cards right?

Opinions surely vary, but teams that narrowly missed the playoffs are surely left with some questions. Rather than use tiebreaking formulas, the WPIAL broke with tradition this year and let its 10-person committee choose qualifiers.

That leaves their picks open to critique.

“It’s hard to give an opinion on their rationale when you don’t have a format to follow,” West Mifflin coach Rod Steele said after the brackets were released Saturday.

The playoffs start Friday without his Titans, who were hoping for a spot in Class 4A.

The 16 wild cards were awarded to Brentwood, Monessen, Jeannette and Rochester in Class A; Carlynton, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Riverside and Washington in 2A; Greensburg Salem, Highlands and North Catholic in 3A; Belle Vernon and Montour in 4A; and Latrobe, Moon and South Fayette in 5A.

WPIAL administrator Vince Sortino said he believed the new process worked successfully.

“The committee was well prepared to talk about things in depth,” Sortino said. “I think they did a great job. Obviously, you’re going to have people that are happy and people that are not happy in any process.”

Among the notable wild card decisions was choosing Belle Vernon over West Mifflin in 4A. The committee also broke a three-way tie between Latrobe, Gateway and Kiski Area in 5A. Sortino cited strength of schedule as a factor in many decisions, including in choosing Belle Vernon.

“It could’ve gone either way,” Sortino said. “But the opponents Belle Vernon had to play at the beginning of the schedule were stronger.”

Belle Vernon is a two-time reigning state champion in 3A, but Sortino said that didn’t matter.

In Class 5A, Sortino said the committee narrowed the three-way Big East tie to Gateway or Latrobe, eliminating Kiski Area from consideration based on schedule strength. From there, the committee picked Latrobe, since it had defeated Gateway in a head-to-head matchup two weeks earlier.

The traditional tiebreaker formulas would’ve favored Gateway. Latrobe lost by 23 points to Kiski Area and beat Gateway by one. Kiski Area lost to Gateway by 21.

“The old system is no longer in place,” Sortino said.

Gateway coach Don Holl said using nonconference outcomes to decide wild cards seems questionable since it’s the WPIAL that assigns most of those games. A team given an easier schedule would seemingly have a better chance to qualify.

In years past, only conference games were used to determine wild cards.

Gateway (3-7, 2-4) faced three 6A opponents in nonconference play, including North Allegheny, and one 5A team. In contrast, wild card qualifier South Fayette (6-4, 1-4) faced one 6A opponent, one 5A, two 4As and one 3A.

Holl said he preferred a tougher schedule but wondered if that worked against his Gators.

“We lost four in a row to end the season,” Holl said. “We’re 3-7. I’m not bellyaching that we didn’t make it. … But find me another 5A team that played three 6A (opponents). In an odd way, the football committee can get you twice.”

It’s good to be first

Earning a No. 1 seed is a nice tip of the cap from the WPIAL football committee.

But does it really matter?

“No. Not really,” Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak said. “Because out of the nine times we’ve won the championship, more of them were probably outside the No. 1 spot than in the No. 1 spot.”

It’s close.

Five times under Cherpak, the Jaguars have won the WPIAL title as the No. 1 seed. Four times they won when they weren’t seeded first. Their most recent championship came as a No. 2 seed in 2020.

Five years earlier, they won as the sixth seed in 2015.

“Especially with there only being eight teams now (in 4A), there’s not really a big difference between all eight,” Cherpak said.

Thomas Jefferson in 4A and Fort Cherry in A are the only No. 1 seeds in action Friday. The four others — Central Catholic, Pine-Richland, Imani Christian and Seton LaSalle — have byes and won’t start postseason play until next week.

A year ago, the six WPIAL champions were seeded second, first, first, first, 10th and second.

Wait a little longer

Carlynton has already waited 23 years since its last playoff appearance, but the Cougars must wait one more day.

That’s because they’re playing in a rare Saturday playoff game. Host Western Beaver doesn’t have lights at its stadium, so the Golden Beavers are limited to day games.

Kickoff is 1 p.m. Saturday.

Carlynton (6-4) last qualified for the playoffs in 2001. The team snapped the WPIAL’s longest active playoff drought by earning a wild card in the Class 2A bracket as the 12th seed.

Western Beaver (7-2) was seeded fifth. This is its first home playoff game since 2007.

Just like old times

Clairton vs. Rochester conjures memories of some old WPIAL championship battles, but the former rivals meet in the first round Friday.

They’ve previously met nine times in the playoffs, including five WPIAL championship games. Rochester won 28-12 in the 1992 finals and 15-14 in 2004. Clairton won 16-13 in 2006, 14-13 in 2009 and 12-0 in 2010.

This is their first postseason clash since 2011. They did meet in the regular season the past two seasons, with Rochester winning 36-26 in 2022, and Clairton winning last year, 18-15.

They play at 7 p.m. Friday at Ringgold, since Clairton’s stadium is under renovation.

See you next week

The WPIAL’s biggest schools have a week off.

Five of the six tournaments start play Friday, but Class 6A won’t begin until Nov. 8. That’s because there are only four teams in the 6A bracket, making it a two-round tournament.

The Class 6A final is 6 p.m. Nov. 16 at Norwin. The 4A final is at noon that day.

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: Carlynton, Central Catholic, Clairton, Fort Cherry, Gateway, Imani Christian, Pine-Richland, Rochester, Seton La Salle, Thomas Jefferson, West Mifflin