Steel City Blitz
The 2025 WPIAL Playoffs will open on Halloween night in Western Pennsylvania. 1A is the only classification where 16 teams qualify for the playoffs and there is a full playoff bracket. The champion will be crowned at Acrisure Stadium on November 22 and enter the State brackets the following week in the semifinals. Fort Cherry is the two-time defending WPIAL Champions and once again tops the bracket after an unbeaten season. Clairton put together an even better defensive season this year than they did last year, shutting out 8 of their 9 opponents. The WPIAL did a good job in this bracket giving teams relatively easy travel distances. There are three matchups of teams within 15 miles of each other. Here is a look at the eight opening round games in the 1A playoffs.
You can also check out this week’s edition of the WPIAL Blitz Show where we broke down the playoff qualifiers in all six classifications!
Fort Cherry is the two-time defending WPIAL Champions and have won 38 straight games against WPIAL opponents. Avella was awarded the final wild card in 1A after winning the 3-way tie for 4th place in the Tri-County South. This is the Eagles first playoff appearance since 2020 and they have the longest playoff victory drought in the WPIAL (since 1961). Fort Cherry is led by senior QB Matt Sieg, who earlier in his career was the first freshman member of the 1000/1000 club then just the second player to reach the threshold twice. This season he played through an injury so Fort Cherry did not ask him to throw as much as he did in past years. Sieg still finished the season with 403 passing yards and 8 TDs along with 1320 rushing yards and 24 TDs, breaking the WPIAL career total yardage record. With Sieg playing through injury, Fort Cherry almost exclusively ran the ball over the second half of the season. In addition to Sieg, there were plenty of opportunities for juniors Eli Salvini (605 yards, 14 TDs) and Ryan Huey (599 yards, 12 TDs). Avella also relied heavily on their dual-threat QB Charles Rush who compiled 747 passing yards and 8 TDs and ran for 515 yards and 7 TDs. Rush is joined in the Eagles backfield by Noah Kimberland (479 yards, 8 TDs). Avella also found a Swiss Army Knife in Bryce Wright who led the team with 498 receiving yards, ran for 358 yards, and scored 9 total TDs.
Leechburg is making their 4th consecutive playoff appearance after a 33-year drought. Both of these teams had very similar campaigns – losing in Week 0 to a 2A playoff team from a nearby district, winning 6 straight games, then losing 2 of their last 3. While Leechburg’s Week 9 loss was an upset by GCC, Neshannock lost a close game to Lawrence County rivals Laurel for the Big Seven Conference title....
