Nov 1, 2012 3 min read

Matt Riggle was eating lunch with a few friends Wednesday when he learned from a school security guard the Beth-Center football team’s WPIAL Class A first-round game tonight against No. 10 seed Union would not be played at home.Instead, it would be played at nearby California High School – on turf, at a snazzy new facility.Quite a bit different, though, from the comforts of home.”We were pretty upset,” the junior running back said. “We wanted to play at home.”Seventh-seeded Beth-Center is one of 12 teams around the WPIAL to move its first-round playoff game from grass to turf because of Superstorm Sandy.All 32 games will now be played on artificial surfaces, but Beth-Center, which uses a straight-ahead running style that makes it a perfect fit for the three-yards-and-a-cloud-of … mud cliche, was more rankled by the news than most.”We wouldn’t have minded playing in the mud because it would be an advantage for us,” said Riggle, who has 67 carries for 421 yards and 12 touchdowns this season.Riggle splits carries with Cody Durant (77-740) and Jason Stay (63-384), and the trio has combined for 33 touchdowns this season.Quarterback Gino Faieta (65-115-954-8TD) has gotten better all season, though few fans will confuse the Bulldogs with South Fayette.Ironically, four rushing teams were forced to change venues: No. 4 Jefferson-Morgan will play No. 13 Neshannock at Waynesburg High School; No. 3 Wash High will face No. 14 Shady Side Academy at W&J’s Cameron Stadium; and No. 15 Carmichaels will play No. 2 Sto-Rox at North Hills.No. 5 Monessen, which is a bit more balanced than the rest, will take on No. 12 Apollo-Ridge at Charleroi.”I think playing on a college field is going to make a difference,” Prexies running back Shai McKenzie said. “Plus, there’s been a lot of rain, and I think we would rather play on turf.”Of course, it’s hardly mattered where McKenzie, the WPIAL’s leading rusher, has played this season.The junior has 127 carries for 1,902 yards and 30 touchdowns for the undefeated Class AA Interstate Conference champions. Moreover, 1,121 of those yards – 59 percent – have come on his touchdown runs, which average 37.4 yards in length.Jefferson-Morgan relies on a more balanced approach, with Dustin Conti (team-high 1,017 yards), Jesse Jento and Nic Santoyo each getting touches. Tyler Bowman was converted from quarterback to give the Rockets an extra skill player.”If I had 225-pound backs and was looking for four yards and a cloud of dust, I might be excited. But my kids have some good speed,” Jefferson-Morgan coach Liam Ryan said. “I feel like the field’s going to make them faster, too.”One reality of this week’s game of musical chairs is that teams lost first-round playoff games, something coaches dangled in front of their kids’ faces all season as motivation.The other part of it is that by this time next week, only 32 football teams will still be worried about fields at all, even if all games after the first round will be at neutral sites.”We’re kind of disappointed about not having home field advantage,” McKenzie said. “But as long as we can play in the area, closer than our opponent, we’ll be fine with that.”