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Six things to watch for the week of Dec. 3-8 * Two teams will represent the WPIAL at this week’s PIAA football championships. One of them is Penn Hills (15-0), which will take on Manheim Central (14-0) for the Class 5A title Friday at 7 p.m. at Hersheypark Stadium. Penn Hills is looking for its second PIAA title. The first came in 1995 when it beat District 3 champion Lower Dauphin in the championship. Manheim Central is also the District 3 champ. It defeated Upper Dublin, 34-12, in the semifinals, while Penn Hills knocked off Archbishop Wood, 20-13. The Indians have never finished a season 16-0. * No school has won more WPIAL football championships than Aliquippa, which won its 17th title last month. On Saturday, the Quips will try to win their third PIAA title. Aliquippa (13-1) will play Middletown (13-1) in the Class 3A final Saturday at noon. Aliquippa’s other PIAA titles came in 1991 and 2003. The 1991 team was led by Ty Law and the 2003 team featured Darrelle Revis. The Quips hammered Sharon, 41-7, in the semifinals. Middletown, the District 3 champion, is in the final for the third straight year. It lost to Beaver Falls in 2016 and Quaker Valley in 2017. * The WPIAL winter sports season gets underway this week. First up is rifle. The first play date for teams is Monday. The four other sports are allowed to begin regular-season competition Friday. Those sports include basketball, wrestling, swimming and diving, and gymnastics. While many athletes competing in those sports train year round, their teams have been practicing since Nov. 16. The WPIAL championships in those sports will be held in February and March. * The Post-Gazette released its girls basketball season preview last week. The No. 1 teams are North Allegheny in Class 6A, Chartiers Valley in Class 5A, North Catholic in Class 4A, Neshannock in Class 3A, Bishop Canevin in Class 2A and West Greene in Class 1A. North Allegheny, North Catholic and Bishop Canevin are all defending champions. North Allegheny and Chartiers Valley both open the season in the North Allegheny tournament, although they won’t play each other as the matchups have been predetermined. * The boys season preview will be released later this week. There should be some excellent games this weekend. A few of them could take place in the Midland tournament. Among the teams competing are Woodland Hills, Penn Hills, Lincoln Park, Central Catholic and Beaver Falls. The Baldwin/Peters Township tournament should be pretty good, too. The tournament gets underway Friday with Sewickley Academy playing North Catholic and Butler taking on Peters Township. Sewickley Academy won the WPIAL Class 2A title last season. Butler features point guard Ethan Morton, who is considered one of the top juniors in the country. * The wrestling season starts Friday with two key tournaments. Defending WPIAL Class 3A champions Kiski Area will be at the Eastern Area Tournament, which is held at Gateway High School. Twenty-six teams are entered in the Chartiers-Houston Tournament, which features PIAA Class 2A champion Thayne Lawrence from Frazier. Lawrence is one of ten returning champions. |