Westinghouse, USO football players face suspensions for City League semifinals

By: Chris Harlan
Wednesday, October 16, 2024 | 10:01 AM

The Westinghouse and USO football teams must play shorthanded in the City League semifinals because of their game-ending altercation last Friday.

At least half of Westinghouse’s roster is likely ineligible and USO could be missing around 10 players, a Pittsburgh Public School spokesperson said Tuesday. Their regular season finale was cut short late in the third quarter after a skirmish on the USO sideline involving players from both teams.

Westinghouse led 43-6.

The teams could rematch in two weeks in the City League finals. This week, USO plays Allderdice at 7 p.m. Thursday. Westinghouse plays Perry at 7 p.m. Friday in the other semifinal.

Video from last week’s game showed a number of Westinghouse players leave the team’s sideline and run across the field toward the commotion. That resulted in an increased number of suspensions for the Bulldogs.

According to NFHS rules, “a substitute leaving the team box during a fight” is disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct. Such ejections earn an automatic one-game suspension under PIAA rules.

Pittsburgh Public Schools spokesperson Ebony Pugh said the only Westinghouse players eligible for the semifinals were those actively in the game at the time of the incident Friday, the players who remained on the bench and those not in attendance. Pugh said the school was “actively appealing” the PIAA decision.

However, PIAA associate executive director Patrick Gebhart on Wednesday said Westinghouse had not filed an appeal with the PIAA.

PIAA bylaws provide little room to challenge such suspensions. Only two grounds for appeal are included in the bylaws: the misidentification of a player or the misapplication of a rule.

According to the bylaws, the misapplication of a rule applies if “a Coach and/or contestant was disqualified under a playing rule that is not applicable to that sport or which did not provide for disqualification.”

Westinghouse (6-1, 4-0) has won four of the past five City League titles. The Bulldogs have finished as state runners-up two years in a row.

USO (3-4, 3-1) includes students from University Prep, Sci-Tech and Obama Academy. The Wildcats lost to Westinghouse, 42-14, in last year’s City League finals.

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: University Prep, Westinghouse