WPIAL playoff teams try to weather storm
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry quarterback Matt Sieg has accounted for 13 touchdowns in the past two games.
Washington’s Davoun Fuse leaves a trail of defenders during a game against McGuffey. Fuse did not play in the Prexies’ playoff win over Serra Catholic last week but should be back in the lineup tonight when Washington plays at Neshannock.
Mark Marietta/For the O-R
Quarterback Brody Evans and Mapletown put their undefeated record on the line against South Side Beaver in a Class A quarterfinal game at Waynesburg Central.
Mark Marietta/For the O-R
Canon- McMillan head coach Mike Evans instructs a player on the sideline. The Big Macs play at North Allegheny in a Class 6A semifinal.
Mark Marietta/For the O-R
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
McGuffey’s Phillip McCuen runs a keeper across the 10-yard line with a Washington player in pursuit during a Oct. 21 game at Wash High Stadium.
To reach this point in the season – the quarterfinals in four classifications and the semifinals in Classes 6A and 5A – WPIAL football teams have beaten some very good and diverse opponents. Every team has earned its spot in the postseason.
However, all of those teams are likely to be facing the same opponent tonight, one they have precious little experience with this season: Mother Nature.
Though rain – heavy at times, the remnants of Hurricane Nicole – is in the forecast across Western Pennsylvania for tonight, the WPIAL is planning to play its postseason games as scheduled. Some PIAA districts have already moved games from tonight to another day.
The WPIAL informed athletic directors Wednesday that the games will go on as scheduled. All contests were scheduled for artificial turf fields, in case of bad weather.
“We’ve played one half of one game in the rain this year,” said McGuffey coach Ed Dalton, whose team will play at top-seeded Steel Valley in the Class 2A quarterfinals.
“We had rain in the season opener, that’s all,” said Mapletown coach George Messich, whose undefeated team will face South Side Beaver in the Class A quarterfinals at Waynesburg Central.
“It has been a really nice fall from a weather standpoint to be playing football. If it rains, then it is what it is. Both teams will be playing in it. Whether it’s raining or not, you can’t have two or three turnovers and expect to win a playoff game.”
Messich and Dalton said their teams haven’t been practicing with wet or soaped footballs to simulate the potential slick conditions that might be experienced tonight.
“We’ll deal with it,” Dalton said. “Remember, bad weather hurts the better team more because it levels the playing field; it evens things out.”
Here is a look at each playoff game involving local teams:
Class 6A
Canon-McMillan (5-5) at North Allegheny (9-1) - This is a rematch of a game from Sept. 2 at AHN Field that North Allegheny won 35-21. Don’t let that score and the records fool you. The gap between the top and bottom of Class 6A is smaller than it has been in recent years. Upsets were the rule rather than the exception this season. In that previous game, Canon-Mac trimmed a 27-0 deficit to 27-21 in the third quarter.
The Big Macs were a banged-up group, especially at quarterback and running back, two weeks ago when they lost 31-0 to Mt. Lebanon in the regular-season finale. The week off, the result of Class 6A having only four playoff teams, should do wonders for Canon-McMillan, which was playing at a higher level late in the year than when it played NA.
The Tigers have dominated the series, going 7-0 against the Big Macs dating back to 2018 with all the games decided by double digits.
For C-M, this is just one more game against a quality opponent. The Big Macs have played only one game all season against a team that currently has a losing record and C-M has won four of those contests.
Canon-McMillan, by the way, has gone to great lengths to get ready for the rain. It had the Canonsburg Volunteer Fire Department turn on hoses during the Big Macs’ practice and create a downpour of water.
Class 3A
East Allegheny (8-3) at Belle Vernon (7-2) - EA is coming off a 42-39 win over Mount Pleasant, a game in which the latter was without six suspended players. Belle Vernon, the top seed, had a first-round bye.
Playing on the gold-colored turf at James Weir Stadium shouldn’t bother East Allegheny. The Wildcats have played only one home game since September, but the Leopards are a step up in quality of opponent.
Belle Vernon has a dynamic running game led by Quinton Martin (786 yards, 10.1 per carry) and Jake Gedekoh (425 yards, 9.0 per carry). The Leopards have scored at least 48 points against every Class 3A opponent they have faced.
Class 2A
McGuffey (8-3) at Steel Valley (9-0) - Steel Valley is the top seed and the Ironmen have played like a No. 1 all season. Steel Valley has the top scoring defense in Class 2A, allowing only 5.7 points per game. The Ironmen have not given up more than seven points in a game since the season opener, a 27-24 win over Century Conference champion Sto-Rox. And the SV offense is good, too. It leads Class 2A in scoring at 46.2 per game.
This will be Steel Valley’s first look at McGuffey’s flexbone offense, which averages 243.3 rushing yards per game.
“They played Ligonier Valley (a 48-0 win for Steel Valley), which runs a wing-T offense. Some of wing-T schemes are similar to what we use,” Dalton said, “but they haven’t seen the option.”
Washington (7-4) at Neshannock (10-1) - Washington is coming off one of its best all-around games of the season, a 49-21 win over Serra Catholic on a neutral field. The Prexies’ defense held Serra scoreless in the second half and Wash High ran for 307 yards. The key number for the Prexies is 177. They are undefeated when they rush for at least 177 yards.
Neshannock is led by its dual-threat quarterback, Jonny Huff, who is fourth in the WPIAL in rushing with 1,700 yards and has set the school’s single-season record. He also has thrown for more than 1,000 yards and 10 TDs.
Because of injuries, Wash High was down to its third quarterback in the Serra game but Nick Blanchette filled in nicely and threw for one touchdown.
Class A
Mapletown (11-0) vs. South Side Beaver (10-1) at Waynesburg - Mapletown, the third-smallest public school in the WPIAL, has been the feel-good story of the season. Under Messich, who has been their head coach for 40 years, the Maples are enjoying their best season since 1968. And it has created a buzz throughout the communities in southeastern Greene County that hasn’t been seen since, well, 1968.
After Mapletown won its final regular season game Oct. 28 to finish undefeated for the first time in 54 years, a few fire trucks gave the team bus an escort the last few miles back to the high school.
Then, last week, a couple of days before a playoff game, there was a parade through the school district.
“We’ve always had support, but to see it take over the entire community to the point where everybody is getting involved, getting so excited and so happy about a team is amazing,” Messich said.
In South Side Beaver, the Maples’ high-powered offense will be facing the best defense it has encountered. The Rams have the second-ranked defense in Class A, allowing only 8.3 points per game. Only one opponent has scored more than 14 points against the Rams.
Mapletown has scored at least 26 points in every game and is coming off a 41-28 victory over Leechburg in the first round, the Maples’ first playoff win ever and only the second for a Tri-County South Conference team in four years.
Mapletown’s Landan Stevenson leads the WPIAL in rushing (2,321 yards) and scoring (318 points), and backfield mate A.J. Vanata has more than 700 yards on the ground.
Mapletown’s defense held Leechburg’s Braylan Lovelace, a Pitt commit, to 40 yards on 14 carries and had a goal-line stand after the Blue Devils had a first-and-goal at the one-yard line. This will be the Maples’ first look at SSB’s Wing-T, which utilizes misdirection and a bevy of ballcarriers.
Fort Cherry (8-3) vs. Rochester (6-4) at South Fayette - When he took over as Fort Cherry’s head coach two seasons ago, Tanner Garry talked about getting the Rangers back to the level where they were contending for WPIAL championships and mentioned 2001, when Fort Cherry played Rochester in the WPIAL championship. Rochester edged Fort Cherry in that game and went on to win the PIAA title.
So things have gone full circle for Fort Cherry, which got its first marquee victory under Garry in 2020 when the Rangers upset an undefeated Rochester team, 21-19.
This game will come down to two things: Can Rochester stop Fort Cherry’s dual-threat quarterback Matt Sieg and can the Rangers stop Rochester’s ground game? In other words, the team that wins at the point of attack should win, and the Rangers have been very good up front all season.
Sieg had another stellar performance last week when the freshman ran for 247 yards, passed for 140 and had a hand in six touchdowns in the Rangers’ 56-42 win over Monessen. Sieg is third in the WPIAL in rushing with 1,751 yards and second in scoring (194 points).
Rochester, the No. 14 seed, is coming off a 36-15 upset of third-seeded Greensburg Central Catholic. The Rams’ Antonio Laure rushed for a career-high 223 yards.