What to watch for in high school sports on Sept. 4, 2025: City League play to kick off

By: Don Rebel
Wednesday, September 3, 2025 | 9:30 PM

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Conference play in WPIAL football kicks off next weekend, but league play gets an early start in District 8 with two games here in Week 2.

City League play starts Thursday and features a former power against the current king of the district.

Brashear (0-2) will challenge three-time defending City League champion Westinghouse (2-0) at Cupples Stadium on the South Side at 7 p.m.

Scoring has not been a problem for the winless Bulls.

They are averaging 23.5 points per game, but the problem is they have allowed a combined 83 points in losses to Cornell and Butler.

The Bulldogs knocked off WPIAL Class 2A power Steel Valley in their opener, 22-12, and then followed up last week with a victory in West Virginia against Linsly Institute, 32-7.

If recent history means anything, this might not be a competitive league opener.

Westinghouse house has won the last seven meetings by a combined score of 295-20, including a rout one year ago, 64-0.

The last Brashear victory in the series came in 2018 when the Bulls topped the Bulldogs, 27-14.

The first meeting between these teams was 49 years ago when Westinghouse blanked Brashear in the fall of 1976, 27-0.

4A section soccer begins

Section play begins Thursday in all three sections in WPIAL boys soccer, as well as two sections in Class A.

There appears to be a nice balance in 4A boys soccer even before the first section matches take place.

Of the 18 teams, only three are still undefeated in nonsection action and only two schools have yet to win or tie a match.

The three perfect teams are Canon-McMillan and Peters Township in Section 2-4A and Seneca Valley in Section 3-4A.

The Big Macs open Thursday at Woodland Hills and the Indians are home to Mt. Lebanon in Section 2, while the Raiders host Butler in Section 3.

Speaking of Section 3-4A, all six teams begin section play with records over .500. Seneca Valley, North Hills, North Allegheny, Pine-Richland, Butler and Fox Chapel are a combined 19-5-2 in nonsection play this season.

Early battles on the court

While section play has yet to begin in WPIAL 4A girls volleyball, as well as some of the smaller sections in the other three classifications, there are some early key matches set for Thursday in 3A and 2A.

Section play began in most of the sections in 3A and 2A on Tuesday, so this marks only the second night of section clashes on the court.

There are three matches in which early season bragging rights and at least a share of first place is up for grabs on Thursday.

• In Section 1-3A, Chartiers Valley (1-0, 4-0) visits Trinity (1-0, 2-0).

• In Section 5-3A, Franklin Regional (1-0, 1-2) travels to Indiana (1-0, 3-0).

• In Section 2-2A, South Park (1-0, 2-1) hosts Seton LaSalle (1-0, 3-0).