‘Shocking’ 4A pairings debated as WPIAL reveals brackets for 2025 football playoffs

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, October 25, 2025 | 1:58 PM

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Only eight teams qualified for the Class 4A football playoffs, but the WPIAL’s smallest bracket has surely raised the most eyebrows.

McKeesport drew the No. 1 seed, as expected, but the rest of the 4A bracket proved unpredictable until the WPIAL revealed its pairings Saturday. Most notably, there was an unusual opening round rematch between No. 3 seed New Castle and No. 6 Montour (7-3), who’d tied atop the Parkway Conference.

It certainly surprised both teams’ coaches.

“It’s a little bit shocking, to be honest with you,” New Castle coach Fred Mozzocio said. “I don’t think it makes any sense at all. You’ve got conference champions going against each other.”

Of all the scenarios Montour coach Lou Cerro considered, “zero” had his Spartans taking on New Castle for the second time in a month. Despite having a nonconference loss to Montour, Big Six conference champion Trinity (6-4) drew the No. 2 seed and a matchup with No. 7 Aliquippa (6-3).

“You know, it’s hard to do an eight-team bracket,” Cerro said. “It is what it is. But I’m surprised we’re playing New Castle, no doubt.”

Big Six runner-up Thomas Jefferson (7-2) was the fourth seed and drew No. 5 Mars (8-2) in the opening round. McKeesport (7-3) plays No. 8 Chartiers Valley (7-3).

“And then you see Aliquippa is on the same side of the bracket,” Mozzocio said. “So, you’ve got all three (Parkway) teams basically going at each other.”

The WPIAL on Saturday released brackets for all six classifications. Joining McKeesport as No. 1 seeds were Central Catholic in Class 6A, Pine-Richland in 5A, Avonworth in 3A, Seton LaSalle in 2A and Fort Cherry in A.

The playoffs start Friday.

The championship games for Class 6A and 4A are Nov. 15 at Pine-Richland. The finals for the four other classifications are Nov. 22 at Acrisure Stadium.

Norwin athletic director Mike Burrell, co-chairman of the WPIAL football committee, said the Class 4A bracket was the one they discussed most.

“You have a lot of good teams in that bracket, and it was debated top to bottom,” Burrell said. “There was no debate on the No. 1 seed. Everything else was debatable.”

Because there are only eight teams, the opening-round matchups are quarterfinals, so Burrell said the committee wasn’t bothered by the Montour vs. New Castle rematch. Avoiding conference rematches in the first round has always been an unwritten rule for the committee.

“We tried to rank the teams one through eight in the way we felt, and if we have conference matchups, we have conference matchups,” Burrell said. “In other brackets, we try to avoid that when possible. But you couldn’t do that when you’re only taking eight teams.”

The committee showed more respect to the top teams from the Big Six than the Parkway. That let a four-loss Trinity team earn the No. 2 seed, which might be considered a surprise. Especially since Montour defeated Trinity, 35-27, in a nonconference game in Week 2.

“Trinity lost to Montour, but they had a brutal schedule early,” Burrell said. “Moon. Peters. Bethel. Those are three 5A teams in a really tough conference. There’s some credit for their strength of schedule. We felt Trinity’s overall body of work was pretty good.”

McKeesport and Trinity were both undefeated champions in their conferences. New Castle and Montour each lost to a Parkway opponent.

Montour’s lone conference loss was at New Castle, 34-14, on Oct. 13. The Spartans will be returning to Taggart Stadium on Friday.

Other than finding the bracket puzzling, Cerro and Mozzocio said their teams won’t be bothered by the rematch.

“Those are the cards we were dealt, so we’ve got to go at each other again,” Mozzocio said. “We know they’ll be prepared as always. … It’s going to be a great challenge for us.”

Added Cerro: “My team is very excited to play New Castle again. They beat us up a little bit last time. We’ll see what happens this time.”

Check out the brackets here.

WPIAL football playoffs

All times 7 p.m.

Class 6A

Semifinals

Nov. 7

Canon-McMillan (4-6) vs Central Catholic (9-1) at TBD; Norwin (7-3) at North Allegheny (7-3)

Class 5A

First round

Friday’s schedule

Kiski Area (4-6) at Shaler (3-7); Armstrong (4-6) at Moon (7-3); North Hills (3-7) at Bethel Park (6-4); Plum (5-5) at Upper St. Clair (8-2)

Byes: Pine-Richland (9-1), Penn-Trafford (9-1), Peters Township (10-0), Woodland Hills (8-2)

Class 4A

Quarterfinals

Friday’s schedule

Chartiers Valley (7-3) at McKeesport (7-3); Mars (8-2) at Thomas Jefferson (8-2); Aliquippa (6-3) at Trinity (6-4); Montour (7-3) at New Castle (8-2)

Class 3A

First round

Friday’s schedule

Beaver (5-5) at Freeport (7-3); Burrell (4-6) at North Catholic (7-3); Hopewell (6-4) at Southmoreland (9-1); Derry (6-4) at Highlands (7-3)

Byes: Avonworth (10-0), Elizabeth Forward (9-1), Imani Christian (10-0), Central Valley (6-4)

Class 2A

First round

Friday’s schedule

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (5-5) at Mohawk (5-5); Waynesburg Central (5-5) at South Allegheny (9-1); Beaver Falls (4-6) at Washington (8-2); Riverside (5-5) at Apollo-Ridge (7-3); Keystone Oaks (4-6) at Ellwood City (6-4)

Byes: Seton LaSalle (9-1), Western Beaver (9-1), Steel Valley (7-3)

Class A

First round

Friday’s schedule

Avella (6-4) at Fort Cherry (10-0); Neshannock (7-3) at Leechburg (7-3); Jefferson-Morgan (8-2) at Laurel (9-1); Chartiers-Houston (7-3) at South Side (8-2); Monessen (6-4) at Clairton (8-1); Jeannette (7-3) at Bentworth (8-2); Greensburg Central Catholic (5-5) vs. Bishop Canevin (6-3) at Dormont Stadium; Frazier (6-4) at California (9-1)

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.