Five Things we learned in Week 10
Each Monday we’ll look back at the highlights of the week that was in local high school football.
This week we learned who is No. 1 in the WPIAL playoff brackets, wild cards aplenty for local teams, Ringgold was left out, McGuffey completed its turnaround and saw a wild ending for Belle Vernon to win a conference title.
1. Look who’s No. 1
It may have been a bit of a surprise considering it lost 8-6 to Clairton, but Washington is indeed the top seed in the WPIAL Class A bracket and will play No. 16 Frazier in the first round.
It’s not like the Prexies didn’t have an excellent season, but most people were resigned to the fact they’d be second after the loss to Clairton.
Outside of the slipup against the Bears, the Prexies were dominant, including a 35-14 win over Fort Cherry in the Black Hills Conference title game on Friday.
What’s interesting is Clairton didn’t even get the No. 2 seed.
The Bears were knocked down to No. 3 after technically losing two games, but one was a forfeit to Steel Valley for an internal disciplinary issue.
It seems like the WPIAL has penalized the Bears for forfeiting that game to Steel Valley.
An interesting note is a potential rematch between Washington and Fort Cherry in the semifinals, because the Rangers are seeded fourth.
Avella will look to spoil dreams of that rematch by pulling an upset as the No. 13 seed when they play at Fort Cherry in the first round on Friday.
Washington isn’t the only local team to get a No. 1 seed.
South Fayette completed an unbeaten run in the Big Six Conference with a 44-7 win over Ringgold and is the top seed in Class 4A.
The Lions will host No. 8 Kiski on Friday.
Kiski got the final wild card over Ringgold. More on that in a bit.
The Lions beat Montour in the regular season and their only loss was to unbeaten 5A Upper St. Clair, so it was a no-brainer to put them at the top spot.
2. Ringgold snubbed?
What seemed like an innocuous 21-14 loss in overtime in a Week 4 nonconference game at Kiski turned out to be extremely detrimental for Ringgold’s playoffs.
Even though Kiski finished 3-7 and Ringgold was 5-5, the WPIAL committee rewarded the Cavaliers for the head-to-head win.
Not only that, but Ringgold also lost to Hampton, which Kiski beat.
It was a rough couple weeks for the Rams, who will be thinking about that controversial touchdown that went against them in their Week 9 loss to Chartiers Valley all offseason.
3. Wild cards
While Ringgold was left out, a few local teams saw good fortune when it came to earning a wild card.
Trinity finished off a 20-0 shutout of Bethel Park, which not only earned it a wild card in Class 5A, but a home game.
The Hillers host No. 9 Latrobe on Friday.
Chartiers-Houston lost out on third place in the Century Conference to McGuffey on Friday, but still found itself in the Class 2A playoffs.
The Bucs were seeded 12th and will play No. 5 Western Beaver in the first round. Chartiers-Houston pulled an upset as a double-digit seed last year at Rochester and will look to do the same against another Beaver County opponent.
Monessen had the best win of any Class A wild card hopeful beating Fort Cherry, 14-12, and was rewarded with the No. 10 seed and a trip to play No. 7 Jeannette.
4. Belle Vernon’s wild comeback
The final two minutes of Belle Vernon’s victory over Elizabeth Forward for the Interstate Conference title will be remembered by the Leopards faithful for a long time.
The Leopards were down 28-14, but David Bergstedt caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Jace Jedekoh to cut the Elizabeth Forward lead to 28-21. Then the Leopards recovered an onside kick with 1:12 remaining in the fourth quarter. Gedekoh scored on a 2-yard run with 48 seconds remaining and Cameron Jenko punched in a two-point conversion, capping off a wild comeback.
With the conference title win, the Leopards earned the No. 4 seed in Class 3A and will host No. 13 Shady Side Academy in the first round.
5. McGuffey is back
After two winless seasons, not only is McGuffey headed to the playoffs, but will have a home game in the first round.
The No. 8 Highlanders will host No. 9 Beaver Falls.
Coach Nate Parry and his players put forth a 7-3 season and got a well-deserved home game.
Staff writer Jerin Steele can be reached at jsteele@observer-reporter.com