WPIAL football future finalized, girls hoops tip off 2nd half of season Thursday

By: Don Rebel
Thursday, January 16, 2020 | 12:34 AM

The much discussed landscape of WPIAL football for the next two years will be finalized Thursday when the district football steering committee meets to map out the conferences for the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

The WPIAL presented two options to schools coaches and administrators in a town hall meeting last week.

One option was for the league to move forward with very little change to how it has operated since the six-class expansion four years ago.

The second option was for drastic changes based on geographical conference with team from multiple classifications in the same sections.

The outcome of the schools’ feedback was overwhelming in favor of status quo.

So now the committee will arrange the conferences and the district will set up the schedule for the upcoming two seasons.

The WPIAL board of control will vote on the committee’s setup and if approved, the finalized setup will be released to the public Monday afternoon.

Top four face off

The top four teams in Section 2-2A will square off on the first night of the second half of section play in WPIAL girls basketball.

What stands out about this section is that the first half ended with three teams tied for first place.

Two of them meet Thursday when Serra Catholic visits Winchester Thurston. Both the Eagles and Bears are 5-1 atop the section, tied with Ellis School. The Tigers visit Riverview, a team that sits in fourth place in the section, two games behind the three leaders.

In the first meeting of the season, Winchester Thurston edged host Serra Catholic, 43-39.

Three section showdowns

A share of first place is at stake in three early second-half girls basketball showdowns.

In Section 3-5A, Woodland Hills (7-0) visits Oakland Catholic (6-1)

In Section 3-3A, Carlynton (5-2) hosts Derry (6-1)

In Section 3-2A, Bishop Canevin (6-0) is at Burgettstown (5-1).

All three of these games can be viewed or heard here on the TribLive High School Sports Network.

Tags: Bishop Canevin, Burgettstown, Carlynton, Derry Area, Ellis School, Oakland Catholic, Riverview, Serra Catholic, Winchester Thurston, Woodland Hills