Steel City Blitz
The WPIAL regular season will come to a close this weekend and the playoff brackets will be revealed on Saturday evening. Earlier this week I broke down the playoff scenarios for the 7 remaining conference titles and 12 remaining guaranteed playoff spots. The WPIAL selection committee will choose the other 16 wild card teams on Saturday after Friday night’s games. Below is a quick breakdown of the current scenarios in play as well as an analysis of the teams in the running for Wild Cards and the bracket outlook heading into the final week of the season. Check out our WPIAL Standings Page and this week’s WPIAL Blitz Show for more!
The top four teams make the 6A playoffs. Central Catholic is the conference champion and #1 seed. North Allegheny will be the #2 seed. The Mt. Lebanon-Norwin winner is in the playoffs. If Norwin wins, they will be the #3 seed and Canon-McMillan will be the #4 seed. If Mt. Lebanon and Canon-McMillan win, Canon-Mac will be the #3 seed and Mt. Lebanon will be the #4 seed. If Mt. Lebanon wins but Canon-Mac loses, then Mt. Lebanon will be the #3 seed and Norwin will be the #4 seed.
There is an advantage to being the #3 seed and getting to face North Allegheny in the first round. Central Catholic has won their five conference games by an average of 39 points. On the other hand, North Allegheny’s only blowout was over Hempfield. The Tigers only beat Norwin by 3, Canon-McMillan by 8, and Mt. Lebanon by 9. They also just suffered one of the worst losses in school history, falling 67-0 to rival Pine-Richland.
Peters Twp and Woodland Hills have clinched conference titles. Moon, Penn-Trafford, and Pine-Richland have clinched playoff spots. Upper St Clair needs a win over winless Baldwin to clinch a playoff spot. The 3rd place team in the Big East will be either Kiski or Gateway. Kiski gets in with a win OR an Armstrong win while Gateway needs losses by both Kiski and Armstrong to get a guaranteed spot. In the Northeast Conference, two out of Shaler, North Hills, and Penn Hills will get guaranteed playoff spots.
In all likelihood, the Allegheny Six will get two wild cards – Bethel Park and South Fayette. The final wild card will come down to a team from the Big East or Northeast. Kiski can only finish 4th with a loss AND an Armstrong loss. If Armstrong beats Franklin Regional, the Riverhawks will surpass Gateway by their head-to-head victory for 4th place. Gateway only finishes 4th in the improbable scenario where Kiski beats Woodland Hills and Franklin Regional beats Armstrong. The Penn Hills-Plum game will determine the final playoff spots in the Northeast. If Shaler loses to Pine-Richland by more than 3 points, then North Hills will make the playoffs. In that scenario, Penn Hills would also make it with a win and Shaler would make...
