Highlands joins Deer Lakes, Freeport, Leechburg from A-K Valley in football playoffs

By: Michael Love
Saturday, October 26, 2024 | 7:47 PM

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Four Alle-Kiski Valley football teams will be a part of the WPIAL playoffs.

Three of the four — Deer Lakes, Freeport and Leechburg — knew they were securely in the field by finishing high enough in their conference standings to earn an automatic berth.

It was a slightly different story for Highlands (5-4), which finished fourth in the Class 3A Allegheny 7 Conference behind Imani Christian, Deer Lakes and Freeport and had to wait for the WPIAL selection committee to officially announce its name when the playoff pairings were revealed Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Rams received one of the three Class 3A wild-card berths. They are the No. 9 seed and will visit No. 8 Southmoreland on Friday.

“We were pretty confident we would get in,” Highlands coach Matt Bonislawski said.

“When the wild cards are up to opinions, you just never know. We had a rough patch for a couple of weeks where we were struggling, but I think the committee looked at our total body of work. We are confident with what we have, and we knew would get a pretty good seed. I think we did.”

Highlands won its final three games in the regular season. Two of the wins — 61-0 over Burrell and 45-20 over Valley — were in conference, and it also topped McGuffey, 47-23.

The Golden Rams played down to the wire against No. 1 Imani, defeated No. 3 Elizabeth Forward in a wild three-overtime game, and led No. 6 Deer Lakes at halftime before the Lancers rallied for the win.

Highlands averaged 38.8 points a game over its nine games. Its game at New Castle in Week 2 was postponed and ultimately canceled because of bad weather that Friday.

Southmoreland, an automatic qualifier from the Interstate Conference, is 7-3 overall. The Scotties finished tied with Mt. Pleasant and Greensburg Salem for second in the conference behind EF and earned their automatic bid through a tiebreaker.

Highlands and Southmoreland scrimmaged in August. The Scotties are seeking their first playoff win.

“We’re familiar with them, and we know they are a good football team,” Bonislawski said. “We know every football team that makes the playoffs is good, so we know it will be a challenge.”

Deer Lakes (8-2) extended its school-record streak for playoff qualifications.

The Lancers, in the postseason for the third year in a row, hope to repeat the success it had in the Class 3A first round last year where they were dominant in defeating Southmoreland at home before falling to eventual WPIAL and PIAA state champ Belle Vernon in the quarterfinals.

Deer Lakes, as the No. 6 seed, will host No. 11 North Catholic at 7 p.m. Friday. The Lancers crushed Burrell, 56-0, on Friday to cap conference play and solidify the No. 2 seed from the Allegheny 7. They also tied the record for most wins in a season.

“We finished the regular season on a really positive note, and our confidence is restored after a couple of tough losses (Beaver and Imani Christian),” Deer Lakes coach Tim Burk said.

North Catholic (4-6) finished fourth in the Western Hills Conference behind Beaver, Avonworth, and Central Valley. The Trojans defeated Hopewell on Friday to snap a four-game losing streak.

“I think there are one or two players for them who live in our school district, which always adds to it a little bit,” Burk said.

“We don’t know much about them yet, but we do know they like to air it out. We’ll start to look at tape and break things down and form what we hope is a good game plan. We’re excited to get back at it, especially at home. Hopefully, we’ll have a nice night and a nice crowd and be able to do some good things.”

Freeport, back in the postseason after a one-year hiatus, finished the regular season 7-2 and in third place in the Allegheny 7 at 4-2.

It earned the No. 7 seed and will host No. 10 Mt. Pleasant (5-5) at 7 p.m. Friday.

The Yellowjackets, who are averaging 31.1 points a game, had won five in a row before falling to Imani Christian, 44-14, on Friday.

Freeport and Mt. Pleasant most recently played in 2019 as members of the Big East Conference in Class 3A. Mt. Pleasant won the 2019 meeting, 35-7, but the Yellowjackets rolled past the Vikings, 41-7, the year before.

The winner between the Yellowjackets and Vikings will travel to No. 2 Central Valley in the quarterfinals Nov. 8.

Leechburg (8-2) closed the regular season Friday with a 20-16 home loss to Greensburg Central Catholic, but the committee respected the Blue Devils’ record and performance throughout the season and presented them with a home game for the first round.

No. 8-seeded Leechburg, in the playoffs for the fourth year in a row after a drought that extended to 1988, will host No. 9 Cornell (8-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at Leechburg Veterans Stadium.

Blue Devils coach Randy Walters said despite his team finishing third in the Eastern Conference, he was confident it would have a good shot at a home game.

“There were two things on my mind after last night’s game, and one was that we were 8-2,” Walters said.

“I wasn’t happy with what happened (Friday). We didn’t play our best. We had a chance to go 9-1, which was our goal. But we did win eight games, and we do have the fifth-best record in single-A. The other thing was that the committee recognized we have built a winning program here. I can’t speak for (the committee), but I appreciate it if I am correct because we, the players and staff, put a lot of hard work into the program. We’re happy to have the eight seed and have a home game.”

Cornell finished as the third-place team from the Black Hills conference behind No. 1 Fort Cherry and Bishop Canevin.

The Raiders and Blue Devils met in the 2021 Class A quarterfinals with Cornell coming out on top 46-18 at North Allegheny.

“We saw Cornell play live once, against Riverview before we played (Riverview),” Walters said.

“I know they are very well-coached. They have a lot of speed, and they play football the right way. Hopefully, we can do the same and have a great game on our field.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.