5 things to watch in H.S. football: Will coaches Cherpak, Walker add to trophy collections?

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, November 15, 2024 | 1:42 AM

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McKeesport’s Matt Miller and Central Catholic’s Ryan Lehmeier will try to win their first WPIAL titles as head coaches this week. It won’t come easy, since their coaching counterparts in Saturday’s finals already have big trophy collections.

Among active coaches, Thomas Jefferson’s Bill Cherpak and North Allegheny’s Art Walker rank first and second in WPIAL titles.

Combined, they’ve won 16.

No. 1 Thomas Jefferson plays No. 3 McKeesport in the 4A final at noon Saturday. No. 1 Central Catholic faces No. 2 North Allegheny in the 6A final at 6 p.m.

Both games are at Norwin.

Nobody has won more WPIAL titles than Cherpak, who has nine with the Jaguars. He won three in a row on two separate occassions with wins in 2004, 2006-08, 2015-17, ’19 and ‘20. Winning another would break a tie with Bob Palko for the most titles in league history.

Palko also won nine.

Walker has won seven WPIAL titles, increasing his collection with two in the past two years. His first two titles came at Central Catholic in 2003 and ’04. He has won five at North Allegheny in 2010-12, ‘22 and ’23.

Only four WPIAL coaches in league history have won seven. The other was New Castle’s Phil Bridenbaugh, a WPIAL Hall of Fame inductee who won his seven titles from 1932-49.

Lehmeier, who won three titles as a Pine-Richland assistant, has led Central Catholic to the WPIAL finals in each of his two seasons. Miller led McKeesport to runner-up finishes last year and in 2016.

Nights at Knights Stadium

Norwin’s stadium has become a popular site for WPIAL finals. This will be the sixth time in seven years that Knights Stadium will host championships.

The WPIAL has played championship games at the venue every year since 2018 except for the 2020 pandemic season. Norwin’s stadium seats more than 5,000.

This will be the fourth time Norwin has hosted the Class 6A final but the first for 4A.

The WPIAL finals schedule is determined each year by the PIAA playoff brackets. The WPIAL champions in 6A and 4A enter the state playoffs in the quarterfinal round while 5A, 3A, 2A and A enter a week later in the state semifinals.

As a result, the WPIAL 6A and 4A finals are played a week earlier than the four other classifications.

Norwin’s school board is considering a renovation plan for the football stadium at a cost greater than $25 million.

WPIAL vs. City state final?

If City League champion Westinghouse reaches the state finals again this year, the Bulldogs might find the WPIAL champion waiting there for them.

That’s because the City League and WPIAL qualifiers are seeded on opposite sides of the updated PIAA Class A bracket. The PIAA revamps its brackets every two years.

Westinghouse (8-1) hosts District 5 champion Windber (10-2) in the PIAA first round at 7 p.m. Friday at Cupples Stadium. The winner advances to face the District 6 champion — either Northern Cambria (11-1) or Bishop Guilfoyle (11-1) — in the quarterfinals next week.

Waiting in the semifinals would be a matchup with an Eastern Pennsylvania team.

Westinghouse was the PIAA 2A runner-up the past two seasons. Enrollment numbers dropped the team to Class A in the latest realignment.

The four remaining WPIAL teams in the Class A bracket are Fort Cherry, Clairton, Bishop Canevin and Jeannette.

4,000-4,000 club

With one really long pass Friday, Fort Cherry’s Matt Sieg could join an exclusive club that contains only former Jeannette quarterback Terrelle Pryor.

The Rangers’ junior can join the former Jayhawks star as the only WPIAL players with 4,000 career yards both rushing and passing.

Sieg is 87 yards shy of 4,000 passing entering Friday’s WPIAL Class A semifinal against Jeannette at Canon-McMillan. He already has 5,866 rushing yards including 1,495 this year.

Pryor threw for 4,340 yards and rushed for 4,238.

Brotherly love

The WPIAL has had plenty of brother tandems over the years, but how many matched the playoff production of the Barksdales?

Steel Valley’s Donald and Da’Ron Barksdale have already combined for 11 rushing touchdowns in two games this postseason. Donald Barksdale, a senior running back, has scored six times while junior quarterback Da’Ron has five TDs.

No. 4 Steel Valley faces No. 1 Seton LaSalle in a Class 2A semifinal on Friday at West Mifflin. The Ironmen have playoff wins over Washington, 49-28, and Western Beaver, 36-13.

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.