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WPIAL Playoffs At Heinz Field Nov. 16

Ron Burgundy

Ron Burgundy

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Most of the WPIAL championship games will be at Heinz Field on Saturday Nov. 16. Classes 2A and 5A have another week to go due to the number of teams in those classes.

Class 1A at 11:00 am (smallest schools)
Rochester (my team) vs. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (OLSH). Rochester's only loss this season was to OLSH. Rochester coach Gene Matsook adds one to his ridiculous stat of having coached something like the 6th or 7th most games at Heinz Field of all coaches.

Class 3A at 2:00 pm
Aliquippa vs. Derry. Quips get to the championship game again with a new coach this year. Aliquippa actually has a Class A enrollment but is successful playing up two classes.

Class 4A at 5:00 pm
Thomas Jefferson Vs. South Fayette

Class 6A at 8:00 pm (largest schools)
Seneca Valley vs. Pine-Richland
 
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Derry vs Quips is rematch of last years semi-final. Aliquippa destroyed us physically. Hopefully Derry makes it competitive this year.
 
1A
It looked like it was a collision course for Jeannette and Clairton in A, but Rochester and OLSH brought it in the semifinals. Rochester was the dynasty team before Clairton and I expect them to win.

3A
Aliquippa completely overmatched Derry last year. The two teams look more even this time around. After allowing 41 points in the regular season, Aliquippa has given up 31 points in two playoff games and are just three weeks removed from an upset loss to a mediocre Central Valley, a team that Derry destroyed in the first round. Derry needed a big comeback against North Catholic on Friday so they enter the final battle tested. Aliquippa is still the favorite, but Derry should be more prepared this year and I believe they can pull it off.

4A
TJ and South Fayette are head and shoulders above the competition in 4A and it isn't really close. South Fayette has a pretty good running back and a passing attack, but TJ has been dominate all year. The only way TJ doesn't win this one is if they can't handle the pressure of the moment, which is unlikely.

6A
Seneca Valley has the best defense in the conference. Despite three losses, they allowed just 9.9 points per game. Their three losses came by a combined 24 points, including a 21-7 loss to Pine Richland. PR won the state title last year with Notre Dame recruit Phil Jurkovec and continued their success this year without him. Their only conference loss was by 20 to NA in the regular season finale. PR is the favorite, but defense wins championships. This should be a great match up.

2A
(3) Steel Valley (10-1) vs (7) Freedom (11-1)
(4) Charleroi (10-1) vs (8) South Side Beaver

Of all the conferences, I know the least about 2A, but I see that the top seeds aren't in it.

5A
(1) Gateway (12-0) vs (5) West Allegheny (9-2)
This is coach Palko's final year and he will certainly want to go out on top. West A had a close game against Woodland Hills last week, but won't have to worry about that against Gateway. Gateway's been dominant all year, allowing just 4.2 points per game with six shutouts and eight wins by 35 or more points (five by over 55 points). Gateway has won its first two playoff games by a combined score of 98-7 and should have a relatively easy time once again.

(2) Penn Hills (12-0) vs (3) Peters Township (10-2)
Peters Township had an outstanding game against Penn Trafford last week. It was a 21-21 track meet in the first quarter before the two teams settled in. After missing a field goal in the fourth quarter, Peters Township drove down and kicked the game winner with three seconds left. The only common opponent between these two was North Hills and both rolled to easy wins. This is the better game of the 5A semis, but Penn Hills should still walk away with a win.
 
Correction, Saturday is November 17.
 
I know they probably won't fill Heinz field but what size of crowd will attend these games and roughly what is a cost per ticket per game????




Thanks

\



Salute the nation
 
Drink IRON City said:
I know they probably won't fill Heinz field but what size of crowd will attend these games and roughly what is a cost per ticket per game????
Click to expand...

There were only 12,000 there for four games last year, the lowest total in 32 years at Three Rivers Stadium or Heinz Field.
 
SteelerFan448 said:
There were only 12,000 there for four games last year, the lowest total in 32 years at Three Rivers Stadium or Heinz Field.
Click to expand...

If memory serves they only played three games at Heinz last year and played the other three at Robert Morris.
 
The divisions go much farther than here. We max at 4A. Funny I've heard of Alquippa but they aren't even close to the largest school division. Support high school football but don't be an *******. My kid was playing qb this fall. I'm sitting behind this ******. My kid flushes from the pocket and this guys kids team has huge linebackers. He yells out your dead at my kid. Just about booted him in the head and said your dead ************.
 
My son will be playing in the 6A game. I think 5A Gateway might be the best team in the WPIAL.
 
so next week new sod then?
 
F83 said:
so next week new sod then?
Click to expand...

They haven't had to put new sod down for 6 years. Since they went with the hybrid turf, all is well, and Heinz is actually one of the best surfaces in the league.
 
Cope said:
They haven't had to put new sod down for 6 years. Since they went with the hybrid turf, all is well, and Heinz is actually one of the best surfaces in the league.
Click to expand...

I suspect that if they ever play 4 games in heavy rain they’ll have to replace it, but tax dollars helped to build the stadium, the high school kids deserve to play there on occasion.
 
so maybe next home game Steelers will be painted in the South End.
 
F83 said:
so next week new sod then?
Click to expand...

Yep. This has been a standard practice after the WPIAL games along with between the hashes being replaced typically once during October.

Cope said:
They haven't had to put new sod down for 6 years. Since they went with the hybrid turf, all is well, and Heinz is actually one of the best surfaces in the league.
Click to expand...

They got rid of the DD Grassmasters hybrid turf in 2009 and completely redid the field in 2017.
 
Steel Valley wins in a blowout to set up a championship game against South Side Beaver.

The stunner of the night was West Allegheny over Gateway, though looking back, maybe I should have seen this coming. Gateway has had a lot of good teams over the years and has lost deep in the playoffs before. It's also hard to bet against Palko. Credit to West A for wanting to send their coach out on top. After going down 28-21, they scored 21 straight to win 42-28. Gateway allowed 50 points all year.

I went to Penn Hills-Peters Township. Peters Township came out looking very good. They built a 14-0 lead exploiting PH throwing down the middle and with an aggressive defense. They were fast to the edge and had two spies on the quarterback, great game plan. PH scored before the half to make it 14-8 and came out as the "team who wanted it more" in the second. They played some very physical football on both sides. Their running back was a bowling ball and just punished defenders and their defense hit hard and took everything away. After tying the game, they got an unsportsmanlike penalty for throwing the ball into the air, taking away any realistic chance at converting the 2-point conversion. They scored late and converted the two late in the game and Peters Township had some awful late-game coaching with play calls and time management that essentially ended it. 22-14 Penn Hills
 
Anyone know of any links where an out of towner can watch or listen to the games?
Particularly interested in the Quips / Derry game.
 
2 turnovers in 4 plays for Derry...Better get it sorted out quick
 
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