PIAA overturns WPIAL, makes Clairton’s Wayne Wade III eligible for football playoffs

By: Chris Harlan
Thursday, October 31, 2019 | 7:16 PM

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Clairton senior Wayne Wade III can participate in the football playoffs, the PIAA decided Thursday, overturning a WPIAL decision on the eve of the postseason.

Wade had his appeal heard Thursday morning at the PIAA office in Mechanicsburg. The WPIAL had ruled Wade ineligible for the postseason under a PIAA rule that targets all transfers after the start of 10th grade.

Wade, the son of Clairton’s football coach, transferred from McKeesport.

The WPIAL denied Clairton’s request for a hardship waiver Oct. 21, but the PIAA granted Wade one.

“He was super excited,” said Wayne Wade, his father and coach. “He thought that last week was it for him, and I kind of saw it in his play a little bit. He dropped a ball that he usually doesn’t drop and didn’t play as aggressive. I felt him. I knew where he was, thinking that could have been his last game.”

Top-seeded Clairton faces Our Lady of the Sacred Heart at 7 p.m. Friday in the first round of the WPIAL Class A playoffs at West Mifflin. Wade (5-11, 165) plays wide receiver and defensive back for the Bears.