No more ‘Highway to Heinz,’ but WPIAL plans to hold 4 football finals at Acrisure Stadium

By: Chris Harlan
Monday, July 11, 2022 | 5:16 PM

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The WPIAL football playoffs no longer can be called the “Highway to Heinz,” but the league plans to use the newly named North Shore stadium again this fall for some of its high school football championships.

The WPIAL intends to hold four games at Acrisure Stadium, formerly Heinz Field, on Nov. 25 or 26, WPIAL administrator Vince Sortino said Monday. The tentative plan needs WPIAL board approval later this summer.

However, it’s now known the two big-school classifications — Class 6A and 5A — won’t play their championships there that weekend because of recent changes to the state playoff brackets. Those two WPIAL finals must be played a week earlier at an alternate site, likely a high school stadium.

“We’re still looking at all of our options,” Sortino said of finding a site for 6A and 5A. “I’ve had conversations with different schools about what would be best for our league. Hopefully, a decision will be made soon, but we’re still exploring all options.”

Pitt and the Steelers both have road games Thanksgiving weekend, leaving Acrisure Stadium free to host the WPIAL Class A, 2A, 3A and 4A finals. Pitt visits Miami on Nov. 26, and the Indianapolis Colts host the Steelers in a Monday night game Nov. 28.

Sortino, the WPIAL chief operating officer, said his recommendation will be to play the championships Friday, Nov. 25.

Last fall for the first time, the WPIAL rented Heinz Field for two days and held five championship games there. But this year, after the PIAA revised its playoff brackets, only four of the six WPIAL finals fall on Thanksgiving weekend. As a result, the WPIAL will return to a traditional one-day schedule at the stadium, Sortino said.

The PIAA revises its brackets every two years.

The state football brackets for 2022 and 2023 have the WPIAL champions in classes 6A and 5A joining the state playoffs in the quarterfinal round (Nov. 25-26). The four other WPIAL champions don’t join until a week later in the state semifinals (Dec. 2-3).

Last season, only the WPIAL Class 6A champion entered states a week early. The WPIAL chose Norwin as the host site for last year’s Class 6A final, which matched Mt. Lebanon and Central Catholic.

Heinz Field has hosted WPIAL football finals every year since the stadium opened in 2001 with one exception. In 2020, the games were moved to high school venues because of pandemic-related restrictions. The WPIAL split the six games between North Allegheny’s Newman Stadium and North Hills’ Martorelli Stadium.

The WPIAL practice of using the Steelers’ stadium predates Heinz Field. In 1986, then-WPIAL executive director Charles “Ace” Heberling took all four championships to Three Rivers Stadium, starting a tradition that has endured for more than three decades.

The Steelers announced Monday that Acrisure, a Michigan-based financial tech insurance company, will replace Kraft Heinz as the naming rights holder for the stadium.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.