Westmoreland County high school football notebook: 3 teams 1 win from clinching

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, October 16, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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Win and you’re in.

That is as simple as it gets this week for three local teams looking to clinch WPIAL playoff berths.

Many playoff spots will not be decided until next week, but a few Westmoreland County teams can take care of business Friday night.

Penn-Trafford (7-1, 3-1) secures a spot in the Class 5A postseason with a Big East win over visiting Armstrong (3-5, 2-2).

The same goes for Class 3A Southmoreland (8-0, 3-0), which hosts Elizabeth Forward (7-1, 3-0) in a first-place clash in the Interstate Conference. Southmoreland also is chasing its first conference title since 1979.

Mt. Pleasant (5-3, 2-1), which faces a tough game at Derry (4-4, 1-2) in the Interstate, also can get in with a victory.

The loser of Elizabeth Forward-Southmoreland also can clinch if Mt. Pleasant wins.

Norwin (5-3, 2-2) hosts Canon-McMillan (4-4, 2-2) in the Class 6A conference. Norwin can clinch its first playoff berth since 2017 with a win and a Mt. Lebanon (1-7, 1-3) loss to Hempfield (4-4, 1-4). Canon-McMillan gets in with a win.

Hempfield must beat Mt. Lebanon to have a shot at the postseason. Hempfield has not been to the playoffs since 2016.

The top four of seven teams make the 6A playoffs.

In Class A, Jeannette (5-3, 3-2) can clinch with a win over Springdale (0-6, 0-4) and losses by Riverview (4-4, 2-3) and Brentwood (3-5, 2-3).

Fralic Award

Nominations are filtering in for the seventh Bill Fralic Memorial Award, which recognizes the top two-way lineman in the WPIAL.

Coaches were sent information last week to open the process. The deadline for nominations is Oct. 31.

Six finalists — one from each classification — will be announced in November.

Past winners are Logan Danielson of Thomas Jefferson (2019), Miguel Jackson of Pine-Richland (2020), Sean FitzSimmons of Central Valley (2021), Joe Enick of Penn-Trafford (2022), Courtney Dunn of McKeesport (2023) and Nate Stohl of Upper St. Clair (2024).

Close calls again?

A couple of area rematches carry high expectations after razor-thin results last season.

For instance, Canon-McMillan and Norwin went down to the wire last season in Canonsburg.

Norwin trailed by two touchdowns heading into the fourth quarter before rallying. A pair of missed extra points were the difference as the Big Macs held on for a 27-26 win.

Norwin led 14-13 at halftime.

Gateway and Latrobe was another nail-biter. Latrobe fell behind 14-0 and 21-7 but rallied to win 28-27.

Andy Tatsch caught a scoring pass — one of four by John Wetzel — to tie it 21-21 before Aaron Gaskey hauled in a score to put the Wildcats in front.

The Gators scored late but missed the extra point.

Last week, Jeannette held back Brentwood, 23-18, a year after rallying past the Spartans 42-41 with a late 2-point conversion.

Next to 1,000?

Only one county rusher has reached 1,000 yards so far this season: Antonio Perkins of Burrell, who has 1,216.

Two other local backs are closing in on the mark. Norwin’s Giovanni Rothrauff stands at 960, and Max Doherty of Derry has 957 with at least two games remaining.

Ben Hays of Bentworth leads the WPIAL in rushing yards with 1,406.

Still perfect

Six WPIAL teams will take perfect records into Week 8.

These teams are 8-0: Peters Township, Imani Christian, Southmoreland, Avonworth, South Allegheny and Fort Cherry.

Albert Gallatin, which is an independent, also is 8-0.

Double duty?

Several local kickers could make the WPIAL playoffs in football and soccer.

They include Sawyer Leuthold of Hempfield, Luca Aguilera of Franklin Regional, Mitch Horner of Latrobe, Tyke Snyder of Mt. Pleasant and Liam Smith of Southmoreland.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Derry Area, Hempfield, Latrobe, Mt. Pleasant, Norwin, Penn-Trafford, Southmoreland