Feb 11, 2020 3 min read

GREEN TREE – The splitting of hairs between the Washington and Charleroi boys basketball teams, co-champions of Class 3A Section 4, was a difficult task for the WPIAL basketball committee.

The district’s committee, which assembles brackets for all 12 classifications, made one thing clear Tuesday night at the annual pairings meeting at the DoubleTree Hotel: Some sections are stronger than others, and the section title Washington and Charleroi jousted back and forth for down the stretch wasn’t one of the strongest.

Three teams that didn’t win their section – Seton LaSalle, Aliquippa and Beaver Falls – were seeded ahead of both the Prexies and Cougars in the 3A bracket.

But longtime coaches, Bill Wiltz at Charleroi and Washington’s Ron Faust, were far from surprised.

Charleroi (16-6) was given the No. 7 seed and will play 10th-seeded Carlynton (14-8) in a first-round game at 8 p.m. Friday at Peters Township. The Prexies, who were seeded eighth after finishing the regular season at 15-6, also open Friday with No. 9 Neshannock. Opening tip at West Allegheny is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

“It’s kind of what we expected,” Wiltz said. “We thought we would be a four or five before we got knocked off by McGuffey.”

Faust said the two section losses, including one to Southmoreland in the Prexies’ penultimate section game, not only cost them an outright section title but a higher seed entering the postseason.

“Losing two section games is not normal for us,” Faust said. “We knew that was going to drop us down.”

The résumés of Charleroi and Washington are almost identical. Both finished 10-2 in the section and split their two regular-season meetings. Against common opponents, Washington had a 9-2 record. Charleroi was 10-2, the one-game advantage coming from playing section foe Southmoreland in a holiday tournament. The Prexies won six of their last seven games. Charleroi won five of its final six. They both had a .500 record against non-section playoff teams.

“Within the basketball committee, we have people from different areas that have seen a lot,” said chairperson Bill Cardone. “We rely on the value of what they’ve seen, but a lot is taken into consideration. Obviously, some sections are stronger than others.”

While the regular season of Charleroi and Washington might mirror one another, past playoff success between the two programs has been completely different. Charleroi has lost 13 consecutive first-round playoff games and hasn’t won in the postseason since a one-point victory over Steel Valley in 1997.

“It’s time to get the elephant off our back,” Wiltz said. “I want it real bad. The kids are aware of it. They could make a name for themselves by winning the first one in a while. This time, we got a higher seed and have to take advantage of it.”

The Prexies are at full strength entering the postseason, something that couldn’t be said about recent Washington teams who struggled with injuries and eligibility come mid-February. Washington has still been able to win each of its first-round games over the past four seasons.

“There’s no excuses now,” Faust said. “This is a pretty solid group that can go seven or eight deep. We’ve been inconsistent this year because of prior injuries but have finally started to mesh down the stretch. We are starting to get a rhythm on both ends. We just can’t have those situations where we’ve gone brain-dead for about two or three minutes.”

For a complete list of playoff games, including the eight other local boys teams, see the Scoreboard section.