Freeport draws conference rival Seton LaSalle in 1st round

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, October 30, 2017 | 8:46 PM

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All season, Freeport preached the importance of treating every Allegheny Conference opponent as another playoff game.

The Yellowjackets can experience that in a literal fashion this week.

Freeport's WPIAL Class 3A playoff opener will have an Allegheny Conference feel, as the Yellowjackets (7-2) play conference champion Seton LaSalle on Friday at Dormont Stadium. It's a rematch from Week 7, when Seton LaSalle rallied from a fourth-quarter deficit to post a 21-10 win and edge Freeport for the league title.

“It was a close game, our first one,” Freeport coach John Gaillot said. “I'm just excited for the challenge that lies ahead of us, just really excited for our boys being in the postseason again after a year off.”

The WPIAL released its playoff brackets Monday night at its annual pairings meeting in Green Tree.

Freeport drew the No. 6 seed in the eight-team Class 3A playoff bracket and the first-round matchup with No. 3 Seton LaSalle (8-1). Springdale (5-5) was seeded 12th in Class A and will play No. 5 OLSH (8-2), the Big Seven Conference co-champion, Friday at Moon. Fox Chapel (6-4) drew the No. 8 seed in Class 5A and will play at No. 1 Penn-Trafford (9-1).

All games will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Gaillot hoped for a No. 5 or 6 seed before the pairings meeting based on the Yellowjackets' resume — their two losses came to Seton LaSalle and No. 1 Aliquippa. In its last postseason appearance, in 2015, Freeport advanced to the Class AAA semifinals.

“The way it is now, with only eight (teams making the playoffs), it's very difficult,” Gaillot said.

“You have to sustain injuries throughout and perform week-in and week-out. I'm really proud of our boys. (They're) very disciplined and work hard. They put everything on the field.”

Springdale clinched its 15th playoff appearance in 16 seasons with a Week 9 victory over Greensburg Central Catholic. The Dynamos advanced to the WPIAL quarterfinals a season ago and must knock off fifth-seeded OLSH (8-2) to repeat that accomplishment.

The tri-champions of Springdale's Eastern Conference — Clairton, Jeannette and Imani Christian — drew the second, third and fourth seeds, respectively.

“I don't even know what to expect,” Springdale coach Seth Napierkowski said. “We're a fourth-place team coming out of the section, so we knew we were going to be in the bottom half of the bracket and knew we were going to be playing on the road. Aside from that, where we were playing was kind of up in the air.”

Napierkowski said he and his assistants didn't scout OLSH or any other potential opponents before the bracket release after an experience from last season, when the Dynamos scouted a team they didn't end up playing. He planned to start working on preparation Monday night for the Chargers, who enter Friday's game on an eight-game winning streak.

“Tonight's going to be a long night, but we'll get the film and start looking at it,” Napierkowski said.

Fox Chapel coach Tom Loughran said he began scouting potential opponents, including Penn-Trafford, after Friday's regular-season finale against Plum. With the eight-team Class 5A bracket, the Foxes were locked into a matchup against a finite number of teams.

“I just assumed they were going to cross-seed the teams … and that would be the easiest way to do it,” Loughran said. “I don't think that we're the eighth seed, but that's where we fell in our league as the fourth-place team. So we have to prove them otherwise.”

After losing four of its first five games, Fox Chapel won the last five to clinch its first playoff berth since 2014.

“We're happy with the opportunity to play Penn-Trafford,” Loughran said. “You have to play somebody, so we're going into the playoffs like everybody else, trying to be 1-0 this coming weekend.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer.

Tags: Fox Chapel, Freeport, Springdale