Steel City Blitz
The 2025 WPIAL Playoffs will open on Halloween night in Western Pennsylvania. In 5A, 12 teams made the playoffs with the top four earning byes. The champion will be crowned at Acrisure Stadium on November 22 and enter the State brackets the following week in the semifinals. The top four teams in the 5A bracket received first round byes. Defending Champion Pine-Richland is the top seed. Peters Twp, who has reached the finals the last two seasons, is the #2 seed. Big East Champion Woodland Hills is the #3 seed and Penn-Trafford received the fourth bye after a 9-1 season and head-to-head win over Moon. Here is a look at the four opening round games in the 5A 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!
This game will produce one of the best stories of the opening weekend. Kiski has the second-longest playoff victory drought in the WPIAL, having not won a playoff game since 1990. On the other side, it has been over 15 years since Shaler’s last playoff victory in 2009. On paper these teams are relatively evenly matched, both scoring under 20 points per game but giving up over 25 per game. Shaler’s offense relies heavily on dual-threat QB Aaron Aversa (947 passing yards, 9 TDs; 77 rushing yards 5 TDs). Complementing Aversa out of the backfield is Avery Kinter who has run for 431 yards and 3 TDs. The future is bright for Kiski’s offense after sophomore QB Landyn Artman threw for 1333 yards and 14 TDs this season. The Cavaliers will do everything they can to get the ball into the hands of senior Aven Shirley who leads the team in rushing (269 yards), receiving (471 yards), and scoring (7 total TDs).
Moon missed out on a first round bye due to a 1-point loss to Penn-Trafford early in the season. The Tigers will get a shot at revenge in the quarterfinals if they can get past Armstrong who was the last team in the playoff field. The Riverhawks head-to-head win over Gateway gave them the edge in the tiebreaker for the 4th place spot in the Big East Conference. Moon has a balanced offensive attack with dual-threat quarterback Andrew Cross at the helm. Cross threw for 910 yards and 10 TDs and ran for 359 yards and 4 TDs). Moon has 4 receivers with over 100 yards, led by Savario Vandetti (355 yards, 5 TDs). The Tigers have one of the best pass rushers in the WPIAL in Daiveon Taylor who is on pace to break the state sack record. They will also use Taylor as a short-yardage back and their fourth quarter finisher to close out games. Armstrong’s offense is built around their passing attack and QB Jaydon Oliver who threw for 1457 yards and 8 TDs and added...
