Teams prepare for WPIAL football playoffs
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Chris Pantelis fends off Sean McGowan and Tiger Burkes during final regular season football action. While Upper St. Clair lost to Bethel Park, 20-14, both teams embark on post-season action as the WPIAL playoffs commence Nov. 2. The Panthers visit McKeesport in their playoff opener.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Sean McGowan leaps over linemen to make big gains during Bethel Park’s 20-14 win over Upper St. Clair. The Hawks’ halfback rushed for 230 yards in the victory. He will be relied upon when the Hawks host Franklin Regional in their first-round playoff game at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2.
South Fayette’s Joe Rossi knows the only way to survive high school’s second season – better known as the WPIAL playoffs – is by playing flawlessly.
“You have to be perfect,” said Rossi, who owns a 147-20 record over 12 seasons at South Fayette with two state titles. “Make the smallest mistakes and you are putting the pads away.”
If the seedings hold true, that shouldn’t happen to the Lions, who captured their ninth undefeated conference championship in 10 seasons with their win, 31-0, against Montour last week. During the WPIAL pairings meeting held Oct. 29 in Green Tree, South Fayette (9-1) earned the No. 2 seed in the Quad-A playoffs, behind two-time defending champion, Thomas Jefferson (9-0). Belle Vernon (8-1) is seeded third.
South Fayette, like many playoff teams, will face a familiar foe, in the opening round of the post-season at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2. The Lions host Greensburg-Salem (4-6), a team they have already beaten this fall 51-28.
Rossi noted that rematches have not been a good thing in the past for the Lions.
“They are always hard. Difficult,” he emphasized. “But when there are only eight teams in a tournament, then you are bound to see someone again eventually.”
Rain did not stop the Lions from passing their way past Montour as Jamie Diven completed 12 of 27 aerials for 237 yards and three scores to RayQuin Glover, Andrew Franklin and Mike Trimbur, who finished with seven receptions for 89 yards.
Diven has passed for 2,373 yards and 35 TDs this fall. Trimbur has 809 yards receiving and 14 scores. SF’s rushing attack is led by Franklin (591 yards and 8 scores) and Glover (343 yards and 5 TDs).
Should the Lions dispatch Greensburg Salem, they will advance to the semifnals set for Nov. 9. They would play the winner of the Belle-Vernon vs. Beaver Area contest. The winner advances to the WPIAL finals set for Nov. 19 at Heinz Field.
“It’s going to be a great tournament,” Rossi predicted. “TJ can do whatever it wants and Belle Vernon is very talented. Anyone can win it. But we want to get there.”
Lebo hosts Canon-Mac
Mt. Lebanon (5-5) and Canon-Mac (4-5) will also see each other again, immediately. The Blue Devils host the Big Macs at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2 in the first round of the Class 6-A tournament. Since there were only nine teams in the division and six made the playoff, the champion (undefeated North Allegheny) and the runner-up (Pine-Richland) received a first-round bye while the remaining four teams must battle it out again. In fact, the winner of the Lebo-C-M contest will face the Rams on Nov. 9 with the victor earning a berth in the finals set for Nov. 17 at Heinz Field.
In the second week of the season, back on Aug. 31, Lebo defeated Canon-Mac, 43-29.
But the Big Macs are on the upswing having gone 4-2 after losing their first three games. They clinched their playoff berth with a 43-13 win over Butler last week.
Jonathan Quinque leads the offensive attack with 1,108 yards passing. Josh O’Hare has rushed for 1,012 yards and 10TDs while Drew Engel has proved most versatile with 30 receptions for 398 yards and three scores along with 419 yards rushing and five TDs on 48 carries.
Defensively, Anthony Zanolla is the leading tackler with 61. Davey Cooper has racked up 11 sacks, 22 tackles for losses and 51 total tackles.
“They have played good football all year and will be excited to be in the playoffs,” Lebo coach Mike Melnyk said. “They have excellent skill players and their linemen play extremely hard and well in their system.”
Seth Morgan has played well in Lebo’s system. For the second season in a row, he has passed for more than 1,700 yards. With two scoring strikes in last week’s 17-7 win against Central Catholic, he has improved to 13 TDs on the season. Lucas DeCaro, who caught those two aerials, is Lebo’s leading receiver with nearly 600 yards and over 42 receptions.
“We plan on playing our best football at the end of the season and our guys are motivated to keep working and improving,” Melnyk said.
Class 5A
The road to a WPIAL title in Class 5A appears it will go through Gateway and Penn Hills as both teams are 10-0 and have been ranked No. 1 and 2 all season long. But don’t count out Peters Township (8-2), which captured its first conference championship since 1975, or the Indians’ chief rivals, Bethel Park (6-3) or Upper St. Clair (8-2).
“I think our conference was very competitive so games will definitely be difficult against those opponents,” PT coach T.J. Plack said. “In this bracket, there are some really good programs and coaches so there are going to be some interesting match-ups in each round.”
USC head coach Jim Render agreed with Plack’s assessment.
“Gateway and Penn Hills both have impressive records and I think that the road to the title goes through them,” Render said. “However, the toughness of our conference, from top to bottom, helps us.”
As a conference champion, the Indians drew a No. 3 seed in the playoffs. Peters Township will host Armstrong (5-5) at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2. The 5A final is set for Nov. 23 at Norwin.
“Winning the conference was a short-term goal that we achieved and its especially gratifying because of the quality opponents we played but we are ready for our next challenge. We are coming into the playoffs on a high note and with confidence because we are competing well as a team. We have to continue executing in all aspects of the game and taking care of the little things if we are to be successful in the playoffs.”
In their season finale, a 42-7 thrashing of Baldwin, Peters Township was successful because of Logan Pfeuffer’s passing. He completed 10 of 13 aerials for 183 yards and two touchdowns. Josh Castilli led all receivers with five grabs for 120 yards and a score. Ryan Magiske rushed for 141 yards and three TDs. Additionally, Jackson McCloskey recovered a fumble in the end zone for another score.
On the season, Pfeuffer has passed for 1,670 yards and 11 scores. Magiske has rushed for 827 yards. And the PT defense has allowed only 145 points all season.
Defense and the ground attack are Bethel Park’s specialties and the Hawks intend to employ those strengths when they host Franklin Regional (6-3) in their playoff opener.
In a 20-14 win against rival Upper St. Clair, Sean McGowan rushed for 230 yards to improve his season totals to more than 640 yards on 95 carries. Luke Surunis is the leading ground gainer with more than 700 yards but Tiger Burkes and Jehvonn Lewis are additional assets for the Hawks. Burks and Surunis caught TD passes from McGowan and Anthony Chiccitt in the victory against USC. Chiccitt has completed 52 of 99 pass attempts for 860 yards and five scores this season.
The Hawks head into the playoffs with confidence because they rebounded from their 35-0 loss against Peters Township the week prior. The defeat cost the Hawks a share in the Allegheny Eight Conference title. They finished 5-2 in the league.
“The big thing is our confidence,” Jeff Metheny said. “We gained so much with the turnaround. We went from not being able to stop anybody to playing good defense, running the ball well, forcing people to pass the ball and not giving up the big plays. All things that will help us in the playoffs.”
Meanwhile, Upper St. Clair takes to the road and will face McKeesport. The Tigers, like the Panthers are 8-2 overall. The match-up has been a traditional first-round thriller for both teams in the past.
“They run that flex-bone offense and we do have experience against that because we have played them so much,” Render said. “We have to limit the amount of touches on offense they get and we can do that by either playing great defense or maintaining the ball ourselves. It’s not a big secret. We’ll line up and see what happens.”
At USC, there is no secret who the offensive weapons are. Jason Sweeney completed 14 passes for 146 yards and a score against BP to raise his season totals to 1,458 passing yards. Antonio Orsini leads the ground attack with 1,116 yards but Colin McLinden accounted for the rushing TD against BP. Chris Pantelis had the TD reception. He finished with seven grabs for 87 yards. He has 1,043 all-purpose yards, including 628 passing yards. David Pantelis follows with 852 all-purpose yards, 497 through the air.
“The WPIAL is always a great tournament and I have said many times that there is no shortcut to the title,” Render said. “You have to line up and compete.”
Canon-McMillan (4-5) at Mt. Lebanon (5-5)
Greensburg Salem (4-6) at South Fayette (9-1)
Franklin Regional (6-3) at Bethel Park (6-3)
Armstrong (5-5) at Peters Township (8-2)
Upper St. Clair (8-2) at McKeesport (8-2)
All games will be played at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2.