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High School Football Notebook: McGuffey, SF face tough playoff road
No. 1 seed South Fayette (9-0) faces a difficult first-round matchup against No. 16 Beaver (5-4). The Bobcats played competitive games against Aliquippa, Beaver Falls and Center - the top three teams from the Midwestern.
No. 8 McGuffey (7-2) gets a home playoff game against No. 9 Aliquippa (8-1), which finished third in its conference.
If South Fayette wins, it could face Aliquippa (or McGuffey) in addition to a possible semifinal contest against No. 4 Beaver Falls (8-1). If McGuffey advances, possible opponents are Beaver (or South Fayette) and Beaver Falls.
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Not all of them. Center, the third seed, is on the opposite side of the bracket. The Trojans (8-1) play Washington (6-3).
Seeding problems
Seeding the WPIAL football playoffs can be a complicated process. The Class AAA pairings prove as much.
Take New Castle, the No. 12 seed with a healthy 7-2 record. The Red Hurricane finished third in the rugged Parkway Conference and are seeded lower than Montour, which lost to New Castle and finished fourth. The Spartans took the ninth seed.
Then, there's Trinity.
The Hillers were 1-5 before a three-game win streak helped clinch fourth place in the Big Seven Conference. That earned Trinity (4-5) a No. 10 seed and a game at Mars (6-3). Belle Vernon, which beat Trinity a month ago, was seeded 11th.
"It's a big tournament and, obviously, we're excited to be in it," Trinity coach Ed Dalton said. "Mars is one of the teams we prepared for so, hopefully, we're a little ahead of the curve there."
Several things enter consideration when seeding the teams. The WPIAL will not pair teams from the same conference in the first round and tries to avoid pairing teams that played non-conference games.
Plus, when a third-place team like New Castle comes from a strong conference, the football steering committee tries to place it in spots to balance the bracket.
Trinity isn't concerned about any of this. The Hillers are focused on Mars, which won the Greater Allegheny Conference.
"Our offensive line is playing good football and that's given us confidence," Dalton said. "But Mars is a conference champion from a good section. We respect what they can do. We have to play physical."
The Hillers also want to be healthy.
Michigan recruit Ken Wilkins missed last week's game with mononucleosis. Meanwhile, fellow seniors Dan Miller and Mike Preston are as healthy as they've been all year.
Rubber match
Beth-Center, the second-place team from the Tri-County South Conference, drew the seventh seed in the Class A bracket and first-round home playoff game against Serra Catholic.
Both teams enter postseason play with 7-2 records.
Serra Catholic finished third in the Black Hills Conference, where Beth-Center spent several seasons before moving to the Tri-County south in 2008.
The Bulldogs and Golden Eagles met twice, in 2006 and 2007. Beth-Center won, 13-6, in 2006 to claim the conference title while Serra Catholic won, 54-14, the following year en route to an appearance in the PIAA Class A championship game.
Pacak on the sidelines
When Monessen takes the field at Memorial Stadium Friday night for its WPIAL Class A first round game against Springdale, the Greyhounds will have head coach Andy Pacak on the sidelines.
Pacak was ejected from last week's game against California which, under PIAA rules, means he could not coach the following game.
It was determined, however, that Charles Hunnell - the referee for the Monessen-California game - erroneously ejected Pacak.
The officiating crew assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty prior to the start of the game to the Greyhounds for taunting. Later in the game, a Monessen assistant was called for a penalty.
According to PIAA associate executive director Robert Lombardi, Pacak should not have been ejected and is able to coach Monessen's next game.
In an e-mail, Lombardi said, "After a review of the situation described, it has been determined that Referee Hunnell misapplied the NFHS (National Federation of High Schools) Football Rule 9-8-3 in disqualifying Head Coach Pacak from the contest for a second unsportsmanlike foul. The second unsportsmanlike foul was committed by (an assistant) and should not have assessed against Head Coach Pacak."
Bits and pieces
A total of 12 teams qualified for the WPIAL playoffs with losing records, including six teams in Class AAAA. Included in that group are Trinity, Burgettstown and Carmichaels. ... Six teams (Gateway, Thomas Jefferson, Hopewell, South Fayette, Mt. Pleasant and Rochester) finished the regular season with 9-0 records. All six were seeded either No. 1 of No. 2 in their respective brackets. ... The Mikes are making a 12th consecutive postseason appearance, tops among local teams.
