Oct 16, 2025 By Chris Dugan 4 min read

The WPIAL has scheduled the first round of its football playoffs for Oct. 31, Halloween night.

Excuse the players and coaches at Canon-McMillan and Norwin if they disagree with when the postseason begins. As far the Big Macs and Knights are concerned, the playoffs begin tonight.

Both teams have a chance to qualify as one of the four playoff teams in Class 6A when they clash tonight in a key Quad County Conference game in Irwin.

“The cover page of the scouting report we give the players every week, when we played Seneca Valley a few weeks ago it said that was a playoff game. This week, we’re revisiting that mentality. This is a playoff game,” said Canon-McMillan interim head coach Brian DeLallo.

Canon-McMillan (2-2, 4-4) and Norwin (2-2, 5-3) are currently tied for third place in the conference. C-M will secure the No. 3 seed with a win. Norwin needs a win and a Mt. Lebanon loss to Hempfield to clinch third place.

The loser will not be out of playoff contention but might have to qualify through the head-to-head tiebreaker system for fourth place. If Norwin wins, a Mt. Lebanon victory over Hempfield would help Canon-McMillan’s playoff chances.

Norwin is having one of its best seasons in decades under third-year head coach Mike Brown.

“Mike Brown and his coaching staff do a great job,” DeLallo said. “Mike has a great reputation. Put on the film and you’ll see why. Norwin is well-coached, they have a good group of athletes who have come up through the system together. They have size and their quarterback is a special player.”

That quarterback is Tristyn Tavares, who is a dual threat. He has passed for 782 yards and 11 touchdowns with four interceptions. Tavares has rushed for 579 yards (7.4 per carry) and nine scores.

“It helps when you have a great kid at the most important position,” DeLallo said.

Tavares isn’t the only offensive threat for Norwin, which hasn’t made the playoffs since 2007 and last had a winning season in 2017. Running back Giovanni Rothrauff has 1,051 yards and eight touchdowns.

Canon-McMillan also has a good quarterback. Ty Jansma has taken on more of the load in the offense in recent weeks, the result of a change in philosophy for the Big Macs, who for years were a team that relied on its running game.

“We had losses early in the season to Peters Township and Upper St. Clair. After those games we decided to do what we what Ty does best,” DeLallo explained.

Since that 0-2 start, Canon-Mac has won four of six.

Jansma has passed for 1,468 yards and 12 touchdowns with only four interceptions.

“The offense starts with him,” DeLallo said. “We’ve put a lot on his shoulders. He does a good job of getting us out of bad plays and into good ones and a good job of protecting the football.”

DeLallo also praised his offensive line. Despite Jansma throwing 186 passes in eight games, he has been sacked fewer than 10 times.

Jansma’s passing targets include Ethan Campoli (32 catches), Roman Cimirolli (18 receptions) and T.J. Sabatucci (22 catches), who DeLallo calls the “best tight end in the WPIAL.”

Dellallo added, “I hate to sound cliché, but the team that makes the fewest mistakes is going to win this game. In the conference games we’ve lost, it has been turnovers and penalties that have cost us.”

Playoff possibilities

Peters Township can clinch the top spot out of the Class 5A Allegheny Six Conference with a win at Baldwin. Also in the Allegheny Six, South Fayette would boost its playoff hopes significantly with a win over Bethel Park, setting up a big game next week against Moon.

* Trinity can clinch not only a playoff berth but the top spot out of the Class 4A Big Six Conference with a win at Laurel Highlands. It would be Trinity’s first conference championship since 1986.

* Washington and Seton LaSalle, both unbeaten in Class 2A Century Conference play, can set up a game next weekend for the outright league title if both win tonight. Wash High hosts Carlynton while Seton LaSalle plays third-place Keystone Oaks.

* Chartiers-Houston clinches a postseason spot in the Class A Black Hills Conference if it wins at Cornell.

* California clinches the Class A Tri-County South Conference title with a win over Beth-Center and a loss by Jefferson-Morgan to Avella. J-M clinches a playoff berth with a win over Avella and sets up a game next week against California for the conference title. Bentworth can clinch a playoff berth with a win over Mapletown and an Avella loss.