Oct 26, 2017 4 min read

Playoffs? We’re talking about playoffs?

With the WPIAL football playoff pairings meeting set for Monday night, teams are making the final push for conference titles, better first-round matchups or a top seed.

It should be an interesting last week in the high school regular season. Here is what to look for:

1. Game of the Week: South Fayette at Montour – South Fayette’s biggest test to finishing its sixth consecutive undefeated regular season is tonight when the Lions travel to Montour for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

The last time South Fayette lost in the regular season was in 2011.

To end the streak, Montour will have to make the Lions’ offense one-dimensional. It will either have to stop senior running back Johnny Beck or slow down a passing attack led by senior quarterback Drew Saxton, who has completed 114 of his 178 passes for 1,861 yards and 24 touchdowns.

Montour (6-1, 7-1) has won five straight games, only allowing 24 points in the process.

The South Fayette defense will have all eyes on Spartans dual-threat quarterback Kavon Morman, who has 22 total touchdowns in his senior season.

This game not only determines who is the Northwest Nine Conference champion but could also alter what the Class 4A playoff seeds will look like Monday night.

2. Last call – Who wants the last playoff spot in the Tri-County South Conference?

Jefferson-Morgan (2-4, 3-6) had its fate in its own hands the past two weeks but lost to Carmichaels and California by wide margins.

Monessen (1-5, 2-7) had an opportunity to make up ground last week but failed in an 18-16 loss to Avella, the second year in a row the Eagles have beat Monessen.

If Jefferson-Morgan beats Fort Cherry, then the Rockets are in the Class A playoffs. If J-M loses and Monessen defeats Mapletown, then Monessen gets the fifth and final playoff spot from the TCS based on the Greyhounds beating the Rockets in September.

3. Needing a rebound – No two teams need a win more than a pair from the same conference that have already clinched playoff berths.

Burgettstown (5-2, 6-2), which lost its last two games — to Charleroi and Washington — and Beth-Center, which lost two of its last three, need to find some answers before the postseason begins.

The problem for the Blue Devils is their once-immovable force of a defense has turned into one that can’t stop the pass, surrendering 639 passing yards and eight touchdowns over the last two weeks.

Beth-Center (4-2, 7-2) will host Washington, with its evolving passing attack and sophomore quarterback Zack Swartz, while Burgettstown plays a nonconference game against Interstate Conference leader Elizabeth Forward. Both games start at 7 p.m.

4. Staying perfect – With conference championships already secured, Belle Vernon, California and Washington are playing for the pride of saying that it was undefeated in the regular season.

Sure, it a win will impact of playoff seeding, but achieving an undefeated regular season is special. Having a perfect mark — even if it is only the regular season — doesn’t happen very often.

5. If all goes as planned – Nobody knows for sure what the WPIAL will do when it makes its playoff seedings. However, barring upsets tonight, there are three things that are almost guarantees:

• If South Fayette wins, the Lions will be the No. 1 seed in Class 4A. They’ve been too good not to have earned that position.

• Even if California defeats West Greene, it will not surpass Jeannette for the top seed in Class A, unless the Jayhawks lose to Clairton, which is possible.

• If Washington puts up another impressive win against Beth-Center, the Prexies become deserving of the No. 1 overall seed in Class 2A. Washington has already defeated the other top teams in the Century Conference, Charleroi and Burgettstown by a 69-8 margin. If the Prexies can put a big number on Beth-Center, then they should at the very least be in the conversation with Steel Valley for the top spot.