The WPIAL has decided on sites for the next round of the football playoffs, and you could say some of the coaches in Class 1A are “naturally” upset.
The WPIAL put the two Class 5A semifinals at neutral sites. But in all other classifications, the WPIAL gave the higher-seeded team a home game — except in Class 1A.
Class 1A has four quarterfinal games, and the higher-seeded team in three of the four games play at stadiums that have natural grass. But the WPIAL wanted all of the playoff games on turf in case of rain. So the league put those three contests at neutral sites that have turf, which means Mapletown, Fort Cherry and Laurel lost a chance to have a home quarterfinal game, even though the coaches of those three teams said their grass fields are in excellent shape.
On top of moving the three games to neutral sites, the WPIAL has Bishop Canevin playing Clairton at Dormont Stadium because Dormont has a turf field. But Dormont is Bishop Canevin’s home field.
“The field is not where my focus is going to be. It will be on the game. But I just think this is kind of ridiculous,” Laurel coach Brian Cooper said.
Since the preseason, the WPIAL has had playoff rules on its website. For Class 1A, the WPIAL stated higher-seeded teams would play at home in the quarterfinals. But No. 2 seed Laurel will play Union (10) at Shenango, Fort Cherry (6) will play Rochester (14) at South Fayette, and Mapletown (4) will play South Side at Waynesburg High School.
“They’re kind of changing the rules,” Cooper said. “If you felt our facility wasn’t playable, I get that. But come look at our facility. Our field is in beautiful condition.”
What upsets the coaches is that higher-seeded teams in four other classifications are playing at home this week.
“They won’t let us play on grass this week, but yet four championships will be on grass [at Acrisure Stadium],” Mapletown coach George Messich said. “I’m not saying we’re going to make the championship, but why take us off our grass field now and Bishop Canevin still gets to play on its home field just because it’s turf?
“We have a small school that graduates 32 kids. We finally have a real good team, and this round was supposed to be on the higher-seeded team’s home field. This is probably never going to happen at Mapletown again, but we can’t play at home because we have a grass field? That isn’t right. And truthfully, our field is in the best shape it’s been in a long time.”
Added Fort Cherry coach Tanner Garry: “I can understand the reasoning behind it, but it’s unfortunate. Just because you don’t have a turf field doesn’t mean you can’t play a game on it? ... I’m not sending an insult because I know you want to make sure weather doesn’t play a factor. Well, if the weather is not going to be a factor, let us stay on the grass field.”
Low seeds make impact
Rochester coach Gene Matsook wasn’t going to complain, just because it’s not his style. But the venerable Matsook and his players believed they had a much better team than the No. 14 seed the WPIAL gave them for the Class 1A playoffs.
They were right.
The first round of the playoffs was impacted by lower seeds knocking off top teams. Rochester was one of them, traveling to Greensburg Central Catholic Friday and beating the No. 3 Centurions in convincing fashion, 36-15.
There were 27 WPIAL playoff games Friday and eight had the lower-seeded team coming away with a victory. Rochester was the lowest seed to win a first-round contest. Considering the Rams’ seed, it was one of the shockers around the WPIAL on Friday. But Rochester wasn’t really surprised.
“I’ve been doing this so long that you never know which way the WPIAL is going to go,” said Matsook, in his 23rd season. “We didn’t sit down and talk about [how] we shouldn’t have been 14th. ... We’re a team that’s starting to peak. Our defense has been very consistent all year, and I think with the competitive schedule we had, with the [non-conference] games we play, our kids were battle tested. They’re very resilient. They’ve overcome a lot of things and adversity this year. I think they have a chip on their shoulder.”
Rochester entered the playoffs with a 5-4 record and the fourth-place team from the Big 7 Conference. But the Rams won a non-conference game at Clairton (No. 9 seed) and lost to No. 8 seed Our Lady of the Sacred Heart by only 16-8. Rochester also lost close games to top seeds from its conference. The Rams lost to No. 2 Laurel, 30-21, No. 10 Union, 6-0, and No. 5 South Side, 10-8.
“Our conference proved itself [in the first round],” Matsook said.
The Big 7 was 4-0 in first-round games with Laurel, Union and South Side all winning.
Now Rochester plays in the quarterfinals against Fort Cherry, the No. 6 seed. That means either the No. 14 or 6 seed will make it to the semifinals.
More seeding talk
Three other teams seeded 10 or lower also won first-round games. Class 2A No. 12 Washington knocked off defending WPIAL champion Serra. Class 4A No. 11 Latrobe upended Highlands. Class 1A No. 10 Union defeated Burgettstown.
The upset of the night almost happened in Class 5A. Only eight teams made the 5A playoffs and No. 8 North Hills (3-8) held a fourth-quarter lead against No. 1 Bethel Park before losing, 19-17.
Making their points
Fort Cherry and Monessen played in one of the highest-scoring playoff games in WPIAL history.
Fort Cherry defeated Monessen 56-42, and the 98 points ties for the fifth-most ever in a WPIAL playoff game. Apollo-Ridge and Beaver Falls combined for 98 in 2014 when Apollo-Ridge won 58-40. By the way, the record for most points in a playoff game is 118, when Jeannette beat Aliquippa 70-48 in 2007.
Freshman impact
Fort Cherry freshman phenom Matt Sieg had another big game in a first-round victory against Monessen when he rushed for 247 yards on 25 carries and completed 8 of 11 passes for 140 yards.
The WPIAL has had quarterbacks throw for 2,000 yards and run for 1,000 in a season. But it’s questionable if the league has ever had a quarterback run for 2,000 yards and throw for 1,000 in a season. Sieg is getting close.
He now has 1,751 yards rushing on 160 attempts and has completed 80 of 144 for 1,179 yards.
Another WPIAL quarterback also has a chance at 2,000 rushing and 1,000 passing: Neshannock’s Johnny Huff now has 1,700 yards rushing and 1,067 passing.
More Stevenson stats
Mapletown’s Landan Stevenson keeps moving up the WPIAL’s all-time rushing list. He now has 5,972 yards and needs only 28 to become the ninth runner to reach 6,000.
But Stevenson also crossed the century mark for career touchdowns in a WPIAL Class 1A first-round victory. He now has 102 career touchdowns, which ties for fifth all-time in the league. Hopewell’s Rushel Shell is fourth with 110.
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh
First Published: November 6, 2022, 5:03 p.m.
Updated: November 7, 2022, 11:53 a.m.
