PIAA basketball factoids for 2022 championship games

By: Don Rebel
Wednesday, March 23, 2022 | 8:26 PM

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For the first time since 2019, basketball players and coaches are about to complete a full journey on the Road to Hershey.

The PIAA basketball playoffs were cut short in the quarterfinals in 2020 because of the covid-19 outbreak, then last season, the state postseason was shortened with only district champions participating, turning a five-round event into a three-round championship.

So as a record nine WPIAL boys and girls basketball teams head east to Hershey, here are some tasty factoids they can munch on during the bus ride.

• First ever PIAA champion — Harrisburg Tech in 1920

• First PIAA champion from the WPIAL — McKeesport in 1921

• First two-time PIAA champion from the WPIAL – Homestead in 1924 and 1939

• PIAA champion from WPIAL on 50th anniversary in 1970 – Beaver Falls boys

• PIAA champions from WPIAL on 75th anniversary in 1995 — Ringgold boys, Blackhawk boys, Shady Side Academy boys, North Catholic girls

• PIAA had one classification from 1920 to 1944

• PIAA had two classifications from 1945 to 1950

• PIAA had three classifications from 1951 to 1983

• PIAA had four classifications from 1984 to 2016

• PIAA has six classifications from 2017 to present

• First girls PIAA championship was in 1973

• First PIAA champion from the WPIAL – Franklin Regional in 1979

• PIAA championship games played in Pittsburgh:

At the Pavilion at Pitt Stadium (located beneath the ramps inside Gate 2) – 1929, 1931, 1934, 1953, 1955, 1961

At Pitt’s Fitzgerald Fieldhouse – 1963, 1965

At the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh – 1966, 1968, 1971, 1979

• Most PIAA champions from the WPIAL in a single year – 5 in 2014: New Castle boys, Lincoln Park boys, Blackhawk girls, Seton LaSalle girls, Vincentian Academy girls

Four WPIAL teams were crowned PIAA champions in 1989, 1995, 2004 and 2019.

• There have been three double overtime PIAA championship games, two involving WPIAL teams:

1999 Boys AA – Annville-Cleona 69, Quaker Valley 57

2009 Boys AA – Imhotep Charter 75, North Catholic 67

• Most PIAA playoff victories won by a WPIAL boys team – Aliquippa with 84

Others include Beaver Falls 61, Blackhawk 48, New Castle 43, Monessen 42, Uniontown 39, Lincoln Park 34, Sto-Rox 33, Washington 33 (Farrell has 79 with a majority of those wins coming as a WPIAL member)

• Most PIAA championships won by a WPIAL boys team – Farrell with 7

Others include Aliquippa 5, Beaver Falls 4, Blackhawk 4, Uniontown 4, Sewickley Academy 3

• Most PIAA championships won by a WPIAL girls team – North Catholic 8

Others include Blackhawk 4, Oakland Catholic 4, Vincentian Academy 4, Mt. Lebanon 3, Seton LaSalle 3, Aliquippa 2, Hopewell 2

• First PIAA repeat boys champions from the WPIAL – Irwin in 1947 and 1948

Other repeat winners include: Irwin in 1953 and 1954, Farrell in 1959 and 1960, Midland in 1973 and 1974, Monessen in 1988 and 1989, Duquesne in 1993 and 1994, Blackhawk in 1995 and 1996

• PIAA three-peat boys champions from the WPIAL – None although Midland won four titles in six years in 1971, 1973, 1974 and 1976

• First PIAA repeat girls champions from the WPIAL – North Catholic in 1983 and 1984

Other repeat winners include: Blackhawk in 1999 and 2000, Hopewell in 2006 and 2007, Blackhawk in 2014 and 2015, Vincentian Academy in 2014 and 2015

• PIAA three-peat girls champions from the WPIAL – North Catholic in 1993, 1994 and 1995 (the Trojans lost in the 1992 and 1996 state finals) and Mt. Lebanon in 2009, 2010 and 2011 (the Blue Devils lost in the 2008 state finals)

• Mt. Lebanon girls are playing in their sixth PIAA basketball title game. They reached the finals four straight years from 2008-11, winning three straight state championships in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The Blue Devils are 3-2 in the finals, also losing in 1978.

• WPIAL teams have won the last two PIAA 6A girls championship games with North Allegheny in 2021 and Peters Township in 2019.

• Chartiers Valley’s girls are 22-11 all-time in PIAA playoff games and 1-1 in title games after losing to Cardinal O’Hara last season, 51-27, and beating Archbishop Carroll in the 2019 finals, 53-40.

• Freedom will be playing in the PIAA girls basketball championship game for the first time. In fact, this is only the second time in school history that a Bulldogs team is playing for a state crown. The other Freedom final in the PIAA was the 2019 girls soccer championship, a match the Bulldogs lost to Southern Columbia, 3-2.

• Neshannock captured a second straight WPIAL championship earlier this month; now the Lancers have made it back to Hershey for a second straight year. The program had never played in a girls basketball state championship game before losing to Mount Carmel in the finals last season, 54-43.

• One of the most decorated teams in the WPIAL is appearing in its fifth PIAA championship game. New Castle is 47-24 in state playoff games and 1-3 in title contests. The Red Hurricanes lost in the 1936, 1982 and 1998 state finals, but defeated LaSalle College in their most recent title game appearance in 2014.

• Quaker Valley is not only looking to cap off a perfect season on Thursday, the Quakers are hoping to win the school’s first boys basketball state championship. The Quakers are 33-18 all-time in the state playoffs and 0-1 in title games. QV lost to Annville-Cleona, 69-57, in the 1999 AA finals.

• Aliquippa is closing in on 90 state playoff wins. All-time in the PIAA playoffs, the Quips are now 88-25. Aliquippa is participating in its 10th PIAA championship game on Saturday. The Quips are 5-4 in the previous nine, winning gold in 1949, 1989, 1994, 1997 and in their latest title game in 2016. Aliquippa faces Devon Prep in the finals. This marks the fourth straight title game the Quips have faced a District 12 team, going 1-2 in their first three meetings.

• History is on the line Friday when Our Lady of the Sacred Heart takes the Giant Center floor. The Chargers are trying to repeat as state champs with a perfect record each time, plus they are looking to tie the all-time state record of 68 consecutive wins set by West Philadelphia in the mid-70’s. This is the third PIAA finals for OLSH, with Constitution being the opponent in all three. The Generals won in 2018, 81-71, while the Chargers took home gold after a 62-49 victory one year ago.

• Bishop Canevin is 13-8 all-time in the PIAA playoffs as it prepares to make its first trip to a state finals game. Before this season, the Crusaders reached the semifinals once in 2017, were 2-0 when the postseason was canceled in 2020 and had to forfeit a first-round game last season, 15 minutes before tip off due to covid-19 protocols.