Local teams will have to pull upsets in WPIAL playoffs
By The Observer-Reporter
Thirty area basketball teams — 15 boys and 15 girls — have qualified for the upcoming WPIAL playoffs that begin Thursday night. If any of those teams are to make the WPIAL finals, chances are they will have to spring a few upsets along the way.
None of those 30 teams were rewarded with a No. 1 seed when the WPIAL released its playoff brackets Monday afternoon.
No local boys teams received a seed higher than No. 4. Class 2A Section 4 champion Fort Cherry (17-5) and Class A Section 2 winner Monessen (17-4) each were slotted as No. 4 seeds. The Rangers and Greyhounds were the only local boys teams to win outright section championships.
Fort Cherry begins the postseason play Tuesday against Winchester Thurston (11-8). Because of limited seating capacity in Fort Cherry’s gym, the game will be played at Avella. Monessen opens Friday at home against Summit Academy (4-12).
South Fayette (14-8), in Class 5A, was the only other boys team seeded in the top half dozen.
Washington (14-7), the co-champion of Section 4, was given the No. 8 seed in Class 3A and will open the playoffs at home Monday (7 p.m.) against Ellwood City (15-7). Yough (18-4), which shared the section title with the Prexies, is seeded seventh and will host South Park (13-8) in the first round.
Peters Township (17-5), the WPIAL Class 5A runner-up a year ago, received the No. 5 seed and will open at home Monday against Kiski (14-7).
The Peters Township girls team (20-1), which was one of only two undefeated WPIAL teams until suffering a stunning loss Friday at Canon-McMillan, is the No. 2 seed in Class 6A, the highest seed received by a local squad. Norwin (18-3) is the No. 1 seed in Class 6A. Peters Township will not play until Thursday, Feb. 22 when it hosts Pine-Richland (7-13).
Trinity (17-5), which grabbed a share of the Section 4 title with a win at Lincoln Park last Thursday, is the No. 3 seed in girls Class 5A and will host Woodland Hills (9-11) Tuesday in the first round. Lincoln Park (19-2) is the No. 4 seed.
The only other local top-4 seed on the girls side is Class 2A Section 2 co-champion Fort Cherry (17-4), which has lost only one time since late December. The Rangers are seeded fourth and will play their opening round game against Beth-Center (11-10) Friday at Peters Township. It is one of two first-round games Friday matching local teams. The other is in Class A boys, Avella (9-13) playing at West Greene (15-7).
The Burgettstown girls (13-9), who shared the section title with Fort Cherry, is the No. 8 seed in Class 2A and will host No. 9 Rochester (14-7) Friday. Washington (14-8) and Chartiers-Houston (16-6) shared the Section 4 championship. C-H is the No. 5 seed and will host South Side Beaver (12-9) Friday while Washington is seeded No. 6 and hosts Winchester Thurston (10-12).
In Class 3A, Waynesburg (20-2), which shared the Section 4 title with South Park and has lost only one game to an opponent from Pennsylvania, is seeded sixth and will host Seton LaSalle (12-8) Saturday at noon. It’s a rematch of last year’s first round when Waynesburg won a section championship outright but was seeded eighth. South Park (15-6) is the No. 5 seed.
Monessen (17-5), the outright Section 2 champion, is the No. 5 seed in Class A and plays at home Monday against Leechburg (8-10).
Two-time defending WPIAL Class 5A girls champion South Fayette (14-8) is the No. 6 seed and will host Mars (11-10) Tuesday.