Five things to watch in Friday’s WPIAL Class 5A, 2A semifinals

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, November 15, 2018 | 9:30 PM

Supposedly defense wins championships, but it’s nice to have a really good quarterback too.

That’s certainly true this year in WPIAL Class 5A. The top three passers from that classification are Penn Hills’ Hollis Mathis, Gateway’s Brendan Majocha and Peters Township’s Logan Pfeuffer. The trio has more than 6,000 passing yards and 80 touchdowns combined.

And, maybe no coincidence, each quarterbacks a team that’s reached the WPIAL semifinals.

“You’ve definitely got to be able to score some points with today’s offenses out there,” Penn Hills coach Jon LeDonne said. “It used to be if you held a guy under 14 points, you’ve got a good shot at winning. Now you’ve got to hold them under 28 points and score 30.”

No. 2 seed Penn Hills (12-0) faces No. 3 Peters Township (10-2) Friday at Norwin. No. 1 Gateway (12-0) plays No. 5 West Allegheny (9-2) at West Mifflin. Both start at 7:30 p.m.

All four have good or great defenses. West Allegheny’s defense allows 17.1 points per game, Peters Township allows 15.6, Penn Hills allows 9.5 and Gateway’s surrenders only 4.2 on average.

But combined those four teams have scored 311 points in eight playoff games — an average of 38.8 per night.

“A lot of teams have good skill-position players across the board,” LeDonne said. “It’s not maybe one or two guys. You’re talking about defending four, five or six guys. So you’ve got to have a good defense, but you’ve got to be able to score points, as well.”

Mathis, a Howard commit, ranks first among Class 5A passers with 2,218 yards and 32 touchdowns. He’s completed 128 of 197 pass attempts (64.9 percent) for Penn Hills, which averages 41.2 points per game.

Among WPIAL Class 5A teams, only Gateway scores more.

The Gators average 49.4 points.

Peters Township averages 33.7, which ranks fifth-best in Class 5A (behind Penn-Trafford and McKeesport).

Majocha, a first-year starter as Gateway’s quarterback, has thrown for 2,085 yards and 28 touchdowns. He seamlessly replaced Brady Walker, who graduated last spring as the second-leading career passer in WPIAL history. Majocha has completed 103 of 150 attempts (68.7 percent).

Mathis and Majocha are seniors. Pfeuffer is only a sophomore. Pfeuffer has 1,905 passing yards and 24 touchdowns while leading Peters Township to its first conference title since 1975. Pfeuffer has completed 62.5 percent of this throws (120 of 192).

West Allegheny’s offense is more run-focused than the other semifinalists. Quarterback Kam Kruz has 1,067 passing yards and 11 touchdowns for the Indians, who average 25.4 points.

2. Unpredictable as expected

Class 2A was considered the WPIAL’s deepest classification this season, an idea that seems to have proven true in these playoffs. The four remaining seeds in the 16-team bracket are Nos. 3, 4, 7 and 8.

Third-seeded Steel Valley (10-1) faces No. 7 Freedom (11-1) at Montour in a semifinal Friday, and No. 4 Charleroi (10-1) plays No. 8 South Side Beaver (9-3) at Canon-McMillan in the other.

It will be the first time since 2009 that neither of the top seeds reached the Class 2A championship. That year, No. 11 Greensburg Central Catholic defeated No. 9 Aliquippa, 33-7, in the final.

3. Another trip to finals?

Twice already, West Allegheny has extended Bob Palko’s coaching career another week. Now, can the Indians take him back to the WPIAL finals for the 10th time?

West A faces defending champion Gateway in a WPIAL Class 5A semifinal Friday at West Mifflin.

Palko, who owns a record eight WPIAL football titles, plans to resign at season’s end. He won his first three titles at Three Rivers Stadium before winning at Heinz Field in 2001, ’09, ’12, ’13 and ’16. His Indians were WPIAL runners-up in 2014. This year’s Class 5A final is Nov. 23 at Norwin.

He will be replaced next season by assistant Kim Niedbala, who was hired last summer as Palko’s replacement.

4. Freedom handles adversity

The most surprising team in the Class 2A semifinals must be Freedom. Not because the Bulldogs don’t have talent, but because they have struggled for more than a decade and endured a late-season coaching change.

The Bulldogs lost first-year coach Russ Barley to criminal charges just before Week 9, yet finished off their first winning season since 2004 and earned a share of the Midwestern Conference title. Now, with athletic director John Rosa serving as interim coach, they are trying to reach the WPIAL finals for the first time in team history.

5. Running start toward finals?

Steel Valley is a win away from its third consecutive finals appearance, this time thanks in large part to a terrific backfield tandem. Kameron Williams and Todd Hill have combined for more than 3,200 rushing yards.

The Ironmen are the only WPIAL team with a pair of 1,500-yard rushers. Williams has 1,726 yards and 19 touchdowns, and Hill has 1,503 and 25 touchdowns.

Steel Valley won the WPIAL title in 2016 and was runner-up last year.

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.