Class 4A seeds raise eyebrows as WPIAL releases brackets for 2024 football playoffs

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, October 26, 2024 | 2:38 PM

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“Shocked and surprised.”

That’s how the coach of three-time defending champion Aliquippa felt when the WPIAL revealed football playoff brackets Saturday. The Quips received a No. 4 seed in a Class 4A bracket that looked a lot different than what coach Vashawn Patrick and some others around the WPIAL had expected to see.

“Me and my coaching staff went through all of the scenarios this morning and last night,” Patrick said. “We were just more shocked than anything when the brackets came out.”

Patrick had expected a top-three seed for the Quips, but he wasn’t the only coach left puzzled.

West Allegheny coach Dave Schoppe was disappointed that the WPIAL seeded his team eighth in the eight-team bracket despite sharing the Parkway Conference title with Aliquippa and Montour. West Allegheny defeated Montour, 13-7, in overtime Friday to force a three-way tie.

The tied teams were seeded second, fourth and eighth.

“I’m not sure how they can justify what they did there, but it’s their call,” Schoppe said. “I don’t understand how two wild card teams can be seeded higher than us. Not to mention Montour, after we beat them. There are just a lot of questions.”

WPIAL administrator Vince Sortino said the traditional tiebreaking formulas were used to break the three-way tie. Aliquippa (6-2, 4-1) was identified as the top team from that conference with West Allegheny (4-3, 4-1) second. Montour (8-1, 4-1) was third and needed a wild card to qualify.

But the WPIAL seeded them in a different order. Sortino said the committee has that ability.

“The committee thought it was hard to put Montour behind Aliquippa,” said Sortino, noting that Montour won their matchup, 36-35, in Week 8. “But you also have a (West Allegheny) team that lost to Aliquippa and beat Montour. So, what do you do? It’s tough.”

Undefeated Thomas Jefferson was seeded first in Class 4A followed by No. 2 Montour, No. 3 McKeesport, No. 4 Aliquippa, No. 5 Trinity, No. 6 Belle Vernon, No. 7 Mars and No. 8 West Allegheny. Sortino said the football committee considered each team’s entire body of work.

Schoppe disagreed with West A’s seed but said his team won’t dwell on it.

“All I know is I’ve got to get my guys ready to play at TJ next week,” he said.

The playoffs start Friday for most classifications. Class 6A qualifiers must wait until Nov. 8. Acrisure Stadium will host championship games Nov. 23 for Class 5A, 3A, 2A and A. Norwin will host the Class 6A and 4A finals Nov. 16.

Joining Thomas Jefferson as No. 1 seeds were Central Catholic in 6A, Pine-Richland in 5A, Imani Christian in 3A, Seton LaSalle in 2A and Fort Cherry in A.

Some top seeds were easy choices. Others were not, such as in 5A, where the WPIAL chose one-loss Pine-Richland over undefeated Upper St. Clair, which was seeded second.

“We knew going in the committee was going to wrestle with that,” Upper St. Clair coach Mike Junko said. “There are a lot of good teams with impressive resumes. It’s not an easy job. I imagine there was a lot of discussion and that’s where they landed.”

Pine-Richland’s lone loss was to Class 6A contender North Allegheny. The Rams also had a nonconference win over Central Catholic, the No. 1 team in 6A.

Going in Upper St. Clair’s favor, along with being undefeated, was winning what was arguably the deepest conference in the WPIAL. Five teams from the Allegheny Six qualified for the 5A playoffs.

“I think our resume speaks for itself,” Junko said. “This has been a team that’s had to overcome adversity along the way. We’re going to face adversity in the playoffs regardless of the seed.”

The WPIAL used a new method for choosing wild cards. Rather than rely on its traditional tiebreaking formulas of Gardner Points and margin-of-victory, the football committee was empowered to choose wild card teams outright.

Those wild card spots were awarded to Brentwood, Monessen, Jeannette and Rochester in Class A; Carlynton, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Riverside and Washington in 2A; Greensburg Salem, Highlands and North Catholic in 3A; Belle Vernon and Montour in 4A; and Latrobe, Moon and South Fayette in 5A.

Montour seemed unlikely to need a wild card after defeating Aliquippa in Week 9. That changed after the Spartans lost Friday in overtime to West Allegheny.

The three tied Parkway champions had the same number of Gardner Points. The WPIAL’s second tiebreaker formula, based on margin of victory in conference games, gave Aliquippa the edge. The Quips have reached the WPIAL finals 16 years in a row and expected a top three seed, but the committee put them fourth.

“It definitely is motivation,” Patrick said. “But I gave my speech earlier that it doesn’t matter where we’re at. We’ve still got to play at 7 o’clock and we’ll be ready. I think they’re just happy for the playoffs. This is our time.”

WPIAL playoffs

All games are 7 p.m. Friday at the lower seed unless otherwise indicated.

Class 6A

4-Seneca Valley (3-6) vs. 1-Central Catholic (8-2), Nov. 8

3-Mt. Lebanon (3-7) at 2-North Allegheny (9-1), Nov. 8

Class 5A

1-Pine-Richland (8-1) bye

9-Franklin Regional (7-3) at 8-North Hills (8-2)

4-Woodland Hills (8-2) bye

12-Latrobe (5-5) at 5-Bethel Park (8-2)

2-Upper St. Clair (10-0) bye

10-Moon (5-4) at 7-Penn Hills (6-4)

3-Peters Township (9-1) bye

11-South Fayette (6-4) at 6-Penn-Trafford (8-2)

Class 4A

8-West Allegheny (6-4) at 1-Thomas Jefferson (10-0)

5-Trinity (5-5) at 4-Aliquippa (6-2)

7-Mars (5-5) at 2-Montour (8-1)

6-Belle Vernon (4-4) at 3-McKeesport (6-4)

Class 3A

1-Imani Christian (10-0) bye

9-Highlands (5-4) at 8-Southmoreland (7-3)

4-Beaver (8-2) bye

12-Greensburg Salem (7-3) at 5-Avonworth (7-3)

2-Central Valley (5-5) bye

10-Mt. Pleasant (5-5) at 7-Freeport (7-3)

3-Elizabeth Forward (7-3) bye

11-North Catholic (4-6) at 6-Deer Lakes (8-2)

Class 2A

1-Seton LaSalle (9-0) bye

9-Riverside (5-5) vs. 8-Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (5-4), site TBA

13-Washington (5-5) at 4-Steel Valley (7-3)

12-Carlynton (6-4) at 5-Western Beaver (7-2), 1 p.m. Saturday

2-South Park (9-1) bye

10-Keystone Oaks (4-5) at 7-Mohawk (6-3)

3-Ellwood City (9-0) bye

11-Waynesburg (6-4) at 6-South Allegheny (8-2)

Class A

16-Brentwood (4-6) at 1-Fort Cherry (10-0)

9-Cornell (8-2) at 8-Leechburg (8-2)

13-Jeannette (6-3) at 4-Neshannock (9-1)

12-Monessen (7-3) at 5-Greensburg Central Catholic (7-2)

15-Rochester (3-6) at 2-Clairton (10-0), site TBA

10-California (7-3) at 7-Laurel (5-5)

14-Bentworth (6-4) vs. 3-Bishop Canevin (7-2) at Dormont Stadium

11-South Side (6-3) at 6-Jefferson-Morgan (10-0)

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, Belle Vernon, Carlynton, Central Catholic, Greensburg Salem, Highlands, Imani Christian, Latrobe, Mars, McKeesport, Montour, Moon, North Allegheny, North Catholic, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Pine-Richland, Riverside, Seton La Salle, South Fayette, Thomas Jefferson, Trinity, Upper St. Clair, Washington, West Allegheny