Steel City Blitz
The first WPIAL Championships are here! Due to the structure of the overall statewide bracket, the WPIAL Champions in 6A and 4A enter the PIAA playoffs in the quarterfinals. The other four classifications have their champions enter in the state semifinals, which means the 6A and 4A Championship Games happen a week before the other four. The 6A and 4A Championship Games will be held at Pine-Richland on Saturday. This will be the fifth WPIAL Championship meeting in six years between Central Catholic and North Allegheny. Central Catholic won the 2020 title and North Allegheny won back-to-back in 2022 and 2023. Central Catholic broke through and won the title again last season, the first Championship for head coach Ryan Lehmeier. Central has won three in a row against North Allegheny, including a 21-6 game earlier this season.
On this week’s edition of the WPIAL Blitz Show, we discussed the Championship matchup in depth as well as diving into the eight semifinal matchups in the other classifications. You can check out previews of those games in separate articles.
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This is the fourth consecutive Championship Game showdown between Central Catholic and North Allegheny. After winning the WPIAL title last season and making a run to the State title game, Central Catholic scheduled a marquee opponent in Week 0 facing La Salle College Prep from the Philadelphia Catholic League. That game could be a precursor to the State title game as La Salle topped three-time defending state champions St. Joseph’s Prep in the PCL Championship Game. Central lost the season-opening showdown but has won 10 straight since with no team coming closer than 14 points.
North Allegheny had a tumultuous road to get back to the WPIAL Championship Game. After narrowly escaping in Week 0 against Woodland Hills, North Allegheny dominated their next three outings. In conference play, they won a number of close games – beating Norwin, Mt. Lebanon, and Canon Mac all by less than 10 points. The season ended on a sour note with a blowout loss to Pine-Richland then losing to northern rivals Seneca Valley. But the bye week paid huge dividends for the Tigers as they came back with a vengeance in the playoffs, running away from Norwin 35-17 to get back to the WPIAL finals.
This will be the 10th playoff meeting between Central Catholic and North Allegheny. They have met in the last three WPIAL Championship Games and this will be the fifth time in six years these two have played in the title game. In 2022 the Tigers swept the regular season and Championship meetings. In 2023, Central Catholic stormed past North Allegheny in the regular season but lost in a shootout in the Championship. That spurred North Allegheny on a run to the State title game where they fell...
