Football
WPIAL Football Friday Playoff Summaries – 11/12/2016
November 12, 2016
The first district postseason on different paths continued on Friday with the final stop on the Highway to Heinz for 6-A, 5-A, 4-A and 3-A playing its Semifinals games while the Road to RMU hit the midway point as Quarterfinals Friday set the stage for the Final Four next Saturday. 13 of the 16 games were decided by double digits points with plenty of them ending in mercy rule fashion, however the three nail-biters that literally came down to the final play drummed up enough excitement to carry the night and make this a memorable round. Here are recaps form all 16 games played around the WPIAL on the second Friday of the district postseason.Scholastic Notebook – 11/11/2016
November 11, 2016
The latest national high school rankings were released earlier this week and there is a WPIAL team at No. 3 in the country. You might be thinking that Pittsburgh Central Catholic is gaining more national acclaim. But this has nothing to do with Central Catholic, or any other WPIAL team. In fact, this has nothing to do with football. We’re talking girls soccer. The Norwin girls are the No. 3 team in the country in the weekly National Soccer Coaches Association of America rankings. Norwin’s impressive season has jumped the Knights up the rankings. They were No. 10 two weeks ago, and No. 4 last week. The only teams ranked ahead of Norwin are Davis High School (Utah) and Glastonbury (Conn.).WPIAL Football Playoff Scores for Friday 11/11
November 10, 2016
First and foremost on this second Friday of district postseason play, WE SALUTE ALL THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE STEPPED UP AND SERVED THIS GREAT COUNTRY OF OURS!!!! Secondly, the 16 games played Friday around the WPIAL set the final menu for the four title games in 6-A, 5-A, 4-A and 3-A at Heinz Field next Friday as well as filled the Final Four slate in 2-A and 1-A next Saturday. Here are ALL the results of the 16 games, ALL of which can be heard again ONLY here on the MSA Sports Network. ALL games can be heard archived here on the MSA Sports Network. WPIAL CLASS 6-A Semifinals: Pittsburgh Central Catholic Vikings 63 - Pine-Richland Rams 34 (F)Western Pa High School Football District Playoff Results
While the Highway to Heinz and the Road to RMU continued on Friday in the WPIAL football playoffs, high school postseason gridiron action continued elsewhere in other districts this weekend. Here is a rundown of ALL the final high school football playoff scores from District 8, District 5, District 6, District 9 and District 10 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday that will set the stage for Round One of the PIAA Playoffs next weekend. DISTRICT 5: CLASS 2-A Championship: Chestnut Ridge Lions 41 - Berlin-Brothersvalley Mountaineers 7 DISTRICT 5: CLASS 1-A Championship:Chicks Picks for Week Eleven
Welcome to Week 11 of the high school football season. Despite being 11 weeks into the season, Chick’s Picks is still having difficult time adjusting to the six classification system. At this critical point in the season, Chick’s Picks knew she needed a meeting with the Boss. After a hard day at work, Chick’s Picks stopped by MSA Sports World Headquarters to voice her concerns to the man in charge. “Boss, I hate to admit it, but I’m lost. Between the Highway to Heinz and the Road to RMU, I don’t know which way to go,” the prognosticator confessed.Big Game Hunting for Week Eleven
November 9, 2016
Call it what you like, redemption Friday, redo Friday, rematch Friday, every single game in the three largest classifications this Friday night is a game that was already played at some point during the regular season. We prefer to call it the semi-finals, and there is no better time to go Big Game Hunting! The suddenness with which the semi-finals jump up on us in 3A, 4A, 5A, and 6A is a little unnerving. But hey, we got a new President recently, let’s find out if we are going to get some new champions as well.
WPIAL Alum Q&A – Shavonta Craft
Jeannette's football tradition is nearly unparalleled in the district, and the Jayhawks have produced a bevy of college and even professional players in recent years. While some of those athletes have played football throughout the country, Shavonta Craft continued his career just a few miles from his high school. Craft, a running back, is about to conclude his tenure at St. Vincent College. He's the featured athlete in this week's edition of the WPIAL Alum Q&A.This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 11/06/2016
November 6, 2016
We start to make the slow transition from the fall to the winter high school sports season as the Highway to Heinz and the Road to RMU continues this week here on the MSA Sports Network. The 2016 WPIAL football postseason continue with 16 Semifinals and Quarterfinals games starting with the MSA Sports pregame Show Friday at 6pm and concluding with the Scoreboard Show Friday at 9:30pm. We also have District 6 and District 9 high school football playoff games and PIHL high school hockey, plus This Week in the WPIAL ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, November 7th: PIHL High School Hockey - Armstrong vs Upper St. Clair at 7:00pm on MSAsports.net Tuesday, November 8th:City League and Other Western Pa District Football Playoffs
While the Highway to Heinz and the Road to RMU opened up this weekend with the start of the expanded WPIAL football playoffs, high school postseason gridiron action started elsewhere in other districts this weekend. Here is a rundown of ALL the final high school football playoff scores in the Pittsburgh City League (District 8), District 5, District 6, District 9 and District 10. DISTRICT 8: PITTSBURGH CITY LEAGUE Championship Game: University Prep Wildcats 15 - Brashear Bulls 14 (MSA) DISTRICT 5 and 8: CLASS 2-A Semifinals: Berlin-Brothersvalley Mountaineers 21 - Westinghouse Bulldogs 20WPIAL Football Saturday Playoff Summaries
For the first time in years, there was a Saturday game on opening weekend in the WPIAL Football Playoffs. With both Keystone Oaks and Bishop Canevin earning opening round home games at Dormont Stadium, KO joined 62 other teams in action Friday night while BC hosted California for the 32nd and final football postseason game for the first weekend of scholastic gridiron playoff action. A special thanks to Bob Orkwis for this recap. WPIAL CLASS 1-A First Round:
University Prep Dethrones Brashear for City League Football Gold
November 5, 2016
Based on the first meeting between Brashear and University Prep back on Oct. 20, it seemed as if Saturday’s City League Championship between those two teams would result in a similar 13-0 win for USO, despite much more favorable playing conditions, rather than the monsoon and inclement weather that day, which moved up the start time of that game. Instead, it was the battle of who could overcome adversity the best Saturday afternoon at Cupples Stadium on the South Side of Pittsburgh. Penalties and turnovers for both sides piled up, and it came down to the penultimate possession of the game to determine the winner.MSA Sports Friday Night HighLights for Week Ten
Last weekend, all of the ciphering and dissecting of the district tiebreakers determined the 64 teams that would qualify for this years postseason. Then on Monday, the powers that be in the district put together the brackets that mapped the course of the playoff over the next three to four weeks. Finally on Friday, the games kicked off and a few hours later, the playoff field was sliced in half to 32 still alive for one of six golden footballs. Here are the players that came up large in Primetime in leading their teams to either the Semifinals or the Quarterfinals next Friday. Max Devinney - Pine-Richland
WPIAL Football Friday Playoff Summaries – 11/05/2016
Four classifications opened up the Highway to Heinz with Quarterfinals contests while two other classifications kicked off the new Road to RMU with First Round contests. No matter which path was taken, there were some 'eyebrow raisers' on opening night of the 2016 WPIAL Football Playoffs. Here are recaps the the 31 high school football postseason contests heard here on the MSA Sports Network on a clear and comfortable first Friday in November.WPIAL Football Playoffs Friday Scores
November 4, 2016
In a season filled with major changes, one of the biggest was in full view starting Friday night. No long is there one clear path to the district championship game. Now the journey splits into two freshly paved routes. The teams in Class 6-A, Class 5-A, Class 4-A and Class 3-A hopped on the traditional Highway to Heinz in what will be a shorter journey, only taking three weeks instead of four. However teams in Class 2-A and Class 1-A will still take a four week trip, but it is be on the newly constructed Road to RMU. Here are ALL 31 final scores from the opening night of the 2016 WPIAL Football Playoffs. All games were broadcast on the MSA Sports Network. Check out the archives. WPIAL CLASS 6-A Quarterfinals:Scholastic Notebook – 11/04/2016
When Ron Sciarro became Riverside’s coach this year, he changed the playing style of the Panthers. They went from a pass-happy team to one that throws only 13 times a game. But there has been one other drastic change for Riverside. It deals with the number in the wins column. After going 3-6 last year, Riverside is 7-2 this season and headed to the WPIAL Class AA playoffs. They don’t throw nearly as often, but the Panthers win much more often.Chicks Picks for Week Ten
November 3, 2016
Welcome to Week 10 of the high school football season. Chick’s Picks attended the annual Playoff Pairings meeting on Monday night. After witnessing so much joy from the teams that punched their tickets to the postseason, Chick’s Picks couldn’t help but feel bad for those that missed out – especially those with only a few losses on the year. The situation reminded Chick’s Picks of a time when the MSA Sports crew got together for pick-up game of dodgeball. The Boss and world-renowned broadcaster Sam Hall were the team captains. Based on her athletic prowess, Chick’s Picks was sure that she would be drafted in the early rounds.Big Game Hunting for Week Ten
As we embark on the ‘Highway to Heinz’ or the Road to RMU I feel like we should all wear helmet decals in the postseason to honor the Beaver Bobcats, who in one Friday night; go from the number one team in the state of Pennsylvania in 3 A, to not in the playoffs. We need to keep a “Captain’s pick” spot open like they do in golf for the Ryder Cup team. Now we make our way towards the championships on the MSA Sports Network, huge games every week, as always send your complaints about those not included in BGH to @JohnnyLee@msasports.net as he takes over the complaint department for all playoff moaning. So with that out of the way we can get set to go postseason Big Game Hunting.MSA Sports Top Ten – WPIAL FOOTBALL PLAYOFF TEAMS – 10/30/2016
October 30, 2016
What will they do? That is always the question put out about the WPIAL football steering committee this time of year. However in this season of change, there are additional quandaries to ponder. Before they even start putting the SIX playoff brackets together, they must decide if in the top four classes, they should go with a preset cross conference format of 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3, 3 vs 2 and 4 vs 1 across the board (Don says no), or if they should just do what they always do and seed the top eight teams (Don says yes) even if teams from the same conference end up playing each other.This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 10/30/2016
The month of October ends on a spooky note, but thinks pick up at the start of November with exclusive coverage of the WPIAL fall sports postseason this week here on the MSA Sports Network. The 2016 district football postseason kicks off with 32 opening round games starting with the MSA Sports pregame Show Friday at 6pm and concluding with the Scoreboard Show Friday at 9:30pm.MSA Sports Friday Night HighLights for Week Nine
October 29, 2016
Various things were at stake around the WPIAL gridirons on the final Friday of October and the regular season. There were conference championships to be won, home field advantage in the opening round to be signed, sealed and delivered, and of course there were teams just trying to clinch a ride on The Highway to Heinz OR The Road to RMU. Whatever was on the line, these players performed at a high level and helped their team to victory and proving they are ready for some Postseason Primetime. David Harvey - Mount Lebanon
