‘Playoffs started this week’ for Aliquippa, Montour with pivotal Parkway clash

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, October 17, 2025 | 12:49 AM

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The WPIAL calendar says the football playoffs don’t start until Halloween, but Aliquippa, Montour and the teams they’re tied with atop the Parkway Conference might disagree.

“Our playoffs started this week,” Aliquippa coach Mike Warfield said. “That’s how we’re looking at it. We knew at the beginning of the season that this conference was going to be a tough conference.”

The Parkway has lived up to those expectations, meaning a good team could miss the playoffs entirely. With two weeks remaining in the regular season, there’s a four-way tie for first place. Aliquippa, Montour, New Castle and West Allegheny all have 2-1 conference records.

Only the top two finishers are guaranteed playoff spots.

That adds to the urgency when No. 2 Aliquippa (5-2, 2-1) hosts No. 5 Montour (5-3, 2-1) at 7 p.m. Friday at the Quips’ Heinz Field. The winner bolsters its spot in the playoff picture.

“Week to week, it swings,” Warfield said. “We lost to New Castle and then we beat West A, and West A beat New Castle. It’s going back and forth, so each week is important.”

WPIAL Class 4A has the smallest playoff bracket of the six classifications with only eight teams. After the top two teams from each conference qualify automatically, the WPIAL football committee will choose two wild cards to fill the bracket.

The wild-card teams can both come from the same conference, but that’s not common. So, a team’s only guaranteed path to the playoffs is to keep winning.

“We control our own destiny,” said Montour coach Lou Cerro, whose Spartans finish their schedule against Aliquippa and West Allegheny.

Montour is coming off a 55-21 victory over Ambridge that included two rushing touchdowns by senior Caden Halajcio and two defensive scores by junior Zander Stern. The victory was a bounce-back effort by a team that relies on a number of young starters, including a sophomore quarterback.

“Our goal last week was to get better after losing to New Castle the week before, and we did in some spots,” Cerro said. “We’re not consistent all the time. If we stay consistent, we’re a very good football team.”

Halajcio leads Montour with 892 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns, and quarterback Brandon Bennett has passed for 1,199 yards and 11 TDs. Stern is the team’s leading receiver with 36 catches and 582 yards.

Montour averages 29.2 points per game and allows 23.3. Aliquippa is scoring 22 ppg and allowing 13.4.

“It’s definitely going to be a challenge for us on both sides of the ball,” Warfield said, “but I’m looking forward to it.”

Aliquippa defeated Blackhawk, 34-17, last week behind three rushing touchdowns by senior J.J. Work. The Quips played without Yale-bound quarterback Marques Council Jr., who will be sidelined for the remainder of the season with a knee injury.

Senior wideout Qa’lil Goode was behind center last week, but Warfield said senior Ray Miller also is getting work at quarterback.

“We moved on,” Warfield said. “Now we’ve had some time to prepare and try to develop a game plan surrounding our quarterbacks.”

Goode and Work have each scored seven touchdowns, including a 58-yard punt return by Goode last week. Work has 494 yards on 92 carries, and senior Josh Lay leads with 23 catches.

“Whoever they put in is going to play 100% up to their ability,” Cerro said. “I know they have some moving parts, but the guys playing are playing at a high level. There’s a lot at stake for both teams.”

Elsewhere in the Parkway, New Castle (6-2, 2-1) visits Ambridge (1-7, 0-3) and West Allegheny (3-4, 2-1) hosts Blackhawk (3-5, 1-2).

A year ago, Montour scored late to pull out a 36-35 victory over Aliquippa that ultimately earned the Spartans a share of the conference title. Montour, Aliquippa and West Allegheny were tri-champions last year.

“We’re playing Aliquippa and they’re Aliquippa, but we’re one of the few teams to beat them in the last few years,” Cerro said. “I think some of the kids who played last year have some confidence with that which helps.”

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.

Tags: Aliquippa, Montour