Fort Cherry top seed for Class A football playoffs
Defending champion Fort Cherry received the No. 1 seed in Class A, and four local teams qualified for the postseason as wild cards when the WPIAL released its football playoff pairings Saturday afternoon.
Fort Cherry (10-0), which rolled to the Black Hills Conference title, was awarded the top seed ahead of No. 2 Clairton (10-0), which has allowed only 21 points all season.
South Fayette (6-4) in Class 5A, Belle Vernon (4-4) in Class 4A, Washington (5-5) in Class 2A and Monessen (7-3) in Class A made the postseason field by receiving wild cards from the WPIAL football committee.
Fort Cherry will open the playoffs in the 16-team Class A field on Friday against Brentwood (4-6) at Jim Garry Stadium.
Monessen is the No. 12 seed in Class A and will play at fifth-seeded Greensburg Central Catholic (7-2). Jefferson-Morgan (10-0), which won the Tri-County South Conference championship in thrilling fashion Friday night at California, is the No. 6 seed and will play South Side Beaver (6-3), the third-place team from the Big 7 Conference, at Parker Field. California is seeded 10th and will play at Laurel (5-5), the Big 7 runner-up. Bentworth (6-4) is the 14th seed and will play third-seeded Bishop Canevin (7-2) at Dormont Stadium.
Carmichaels (5-3) was not selected as a wild card in Class A. Rochester (3-6) and Brentwood were among the four wild cards chosen.
In Class 5A, defending champion Peters Township (9-1) is the No. 3 seed and will have a first-round bye. The Indians’ next game will be Nov. 8 at home against the winner of the first-round contest matching South Fayette and Penn-Trafford (8-2).
Pine-Richland (8-1) is the No. 1 seed in Class 5A and Upper St. Clair (10-0) is the No. 2.
Trinity (5-5), which qualified by finishing second in the Big Six Conference, is the fifth seeded in Class 4A and will play Friday at No. 4 seed Aliquippa (6-2).
Belle Vernon, which won the WPIAL and PIAA championships in Class 3A the last two years, is the No. 6 seed in Class 4A and will play Friday at McKeesport (6-4). It will be s rematch of a game played Sept. 13 and won by McKeesport, 28-7.
Washington received the final wild card in Class 2A and is seeded 13th in the 13-team field. The Prexies open the postseason Friday at fourth-seeded Steel Valley (7-3). It will be the second meeting of the year between the Prexies and Ironmen. Steel Valley defeated Wash High 28-8 on Aug. 30.
Waynesburg (6-4), the third-place finisher in the Century Conference, is the 11th seed and will play at sixth-seeded South Allegheny (8-2). The Gladiators are coached by former West Greene head coach Brian Hanson.