CTK 2015 – WPIAL Triple-A 2014 Football Flashback

By: Bruce Markey
Tuesday, August 4, 2015 | 3:34 PM

When all was said and done through district play in WPIAL Class AAA in 2014, it was a Parkway Conference team standing as the king of the hill…rinse, wash, repeat. The calendar year may have changed last season, but it was once again not one, but two Parkway Conference teams left standing to battle at Heinz Field. In fact, it was the same two teams as the year before but with a different outcome as Central Valley beat West Allegheny.

2014 WPIAL Triple-A Highlights:

*  While the Parkway Conference as a whole may not be as deep and as good as it was a few years ago, don’t tell that to anybody from the Big Nine (Now Big Ten) or Greater Allegheny Conferences. For the SIXTH straight year, a team from the Parkway won the WPIAL championship (Central Valley twice, West Allegheny three times and Montour) and for the fourth time in that six year span, it was a pair of Parkway Conference teams that battled for the gold at Heinz Field as Central Valley got sweet revenge with a 35-28 thriller over West Allegheny. In fact, the last time a Parkway Conference team did not make it to the finals on the North Shore of Pittsburgh was in 2005 when Franklin Regional upset Thomas Jefferson.

*  The loss to Central Valley in the AAA title game ended  West Allegheny’s two year district reign and kept the Indians from becoming the first team in WPIAL to three-peat on two different occasions after winning district gold in 1999, 2000 and 2001. While the loss at Heinz Field denied West Allegheny history, the Indians Week 9 loss to Central Valley in the Parkway Conference championship game ended a 29 game win streak for West A against District 7 opponents.

*  While it has been six years since Thomas Jefferson last won the WPIAL Class AAA championship, the Jaguars have continued to dominated the Big Nine (now Big Ten) Conference. In the opening week of the season, TJ thumped Ringgold 49-6 in a game that turned out to be the difference in the conference as the Jaguars finished 8-0 and the Rams were second at 7-1. The conference crown for Thomas Jefferson marked the ninth consecutive conference title, with eight of the nine being outright section crowns. The Jaguars last lost a conference game on October 28, 2011 when they fell to West Mifflin 27-14. That has been the only conference loss for TJ in the last nine years.

*  13 of the 16 playoff teams in Class AAA in 2014 were postseason teams from the previous year. With Highlands having moved down to AAA, Gateway, Down from AAAA secured a playoff berth in the Greater Allegheny Conference, as did Knoch, which beat out Trinity and Ambridge for the AAA sixth place wild card team. The other new team claimed the biggest turnarounds in the classification from 2013…the Laurel Highlands Mustangs. in 2013, the Mustangs finished last in the Big Nine Conference with a 1-9 overall record. LH enjoyed a three game improvement by finishing 4-4 in the conference (5th place) and 4-5 overall. Their stay in the playoffs was short and not so sweet though as they fell to eventual champion Central Valley 48-26 in Round One.

*  Indiana finished in third place in the Greater Allegheny Conference with a 5-3 record, 6-3 overall and did win a playoff game be beating West Mifflin before falling to Central Valley in the AAA Quarterfinals. The Little Indians were lethal through the air as quarterback Jacob Zilinskas led all classification quarterbacks with 1,617 yards passing with 109 completions on 195 attempts and 21 touchdowns. The two leading receivers were also from Indiana. Dylan Stapleton had 69 catches for 1,104 yards while brother Riley Stapleton had 64 receptions for 944 yards. Austin Kemp of Thomas Jefferson edged Jordan Whitehead of Central Valley in both classification rushing yards (1,994 to 1,933) and scoring (236 to 210).

2014 WPIAL Triple-A Regular Season Standings:

(Top 5 teams from AAA conferences qualify for playoffs plus a sixth place wild card team)

# = Clinched Section Title
* = Clinched Playoff Berth
x = Eliminated From Playoff Chase

CLASS AAA BIG NINE CONFERENCE

2014 WPIAL Triple-A Playoff Results:

(All scores marked with (MSA) are archived on MSA Sports)

2014 WPIAL CLASS AAA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:

Central Valley Warriors 35 – West Allegheny Indians 28  (MSA)

WPIAL CLASS AAA Semifinals:

Central Valley Warriors 41 –  Ringgold Rams 13  (MSA)

West Allegheny Indians 41 –  Thomas Jefferson Jaguars 7  (MSA)

WPIAL CLASS AAA Quarterfinals:

Central Valley Warriors 41 –  Indiana Little Indians 14 (MSA)

Ringgold Rams  21 – Hampton Talbots 20 in Overtime  (MSA)

Thomas Jefferson Jaguars 28 – Mars Fighting Planets 13  (MSA)

West Allegheny Indians 37 – Franklin Regional Panthers 14  (MSA)

WPIAL CLASS AAA First Round:

Central Valley Warriors 48 – Laurel Highlands Mustangs 26  (MSA)

Indiana Little Indians 42 – West Mifflin Titans 12  (MSA)

Hampton Talbots 33 – New Castle Red Hurricane 14  (MSA)

Ringgold Rams 24 – Gateway Gators 14  (MSA)

Thomas Jefferson Jaguars 49 – Moon Tigers 14  (MSA)

Mars Fighting Planets 42 – Montour Spartans 27  (MSA)

West Allegheny Indians 38 – Knoch Knights 0  (MSA)

Franklin Regional Panthers 20 – Belle Vernon Leopards 0  (MSA)

2014 PIAA Triple-A Playoff Results:

(All scores marked with (MSA) are archived on MSA Sports)

2014 PIAA CLASS AAA CHAMPIONSHIP FOOTBALL GAME:

Archbishop Wood Vikings 33 – CENTRAL VALLEY WARRIORS 14  (MSA)

PIAA CLASS AAA Semifinals:

CENTRAL VALLEY WARRIORS 26 – Bishop McDevitt Crusaders 21  (MSA)

Archbishop Wood Vikings 63 – Somerset Golden Eagles 20

PIAA CLASS AAA Quarterfinals:

CENTRAL VALLEY WARRIORS 52 – Conneaut Eagles 23  (MSA)

Bishop McDevitt Crusaders 41 – Cocalico Eagles 0

Archbishop Wood Vikings 44 – Great Valley Patriots 7

Somerset Golden Eagles 30 – Bethlehem Catholic Hawks 0

PIAA CLASS AAA First Round:

CENTRAL VALLEY WARRIORS 35 – WEST ALLEGHENY INDIANS 28  (MSA)

Conneaut Eagles 14 – Erie Cathedral Prep Ramblers 7

Bishop McDevitt Crusaders 44 – Red Land Patriots 0

Cocalico Eagles 24 – Daniel Boone Blazers 6

Archbishop Wood Vikings 42 – Imhotep Charter Panthers 34

Great Valley Patriots 21 – Springfield-Delco Cougars 0

Somerset Golden Eagles 42 – Selinsgrove Seals 14

Bethlehem Catholic Hawks 42 – Crestwood Comets 28