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Five things to watch for the week of Feb. 18-23. * The WPIAL basketball playoffs continue this week with games Monday through Saturday. The first round concludes Wednesday and the quarterfinals begin Thursday. Some of the top boys games early in the week are Shaler-McKeesport in Class 5A Monday, Penn-Trafford-Peters Township in Class 6A Tuesday, and Blackhawk-Derry in Class 4A Wednesday. Among the quarterfinal matchups that have already been determined are North Catholic-Deer Lakes in Class 3A Thursday and Winchester Thurston-South Side Beaver in Class 2A Friday. * Class 6A girls teams have already had a long wait to play their playoff openers. It will extend until Friday when the eight-team bracket contests its quarterfinal round. But no girls teams will have had as long of a break than the ones that received byes in Class 5A and 3A. Those teams, which include unbeaten Chartiers Valley, won’t play until Saturday. As for first-round games, some of the top contests are McKeesport-Greensburg Salem in Class 4A Monday, Penn-Trafford-Trinity in Class 5A Tuesday, and Washington-Mohawk in Class 3A Wednesday. * It will be a couple of more months before most people hop in a pool again, but swimmers and divers from around the WPIAL have been spending lots of time in pools the past few months. Friday and Saturday, the area’s best divers will get together for the WPIAL championships. The Class 2A meet will be held Friday at South Park and the Class 3A meet Saturday at North Allegheny. All four of last year’s champions are back this year: Fox Chapel’s Jonah Cagley, North Catholic’s Kyle Maziarz, Penn-Trafford’s Paige Kalik and Ringgold’s Anna Vogt. * Berths in the PIAA Class 2A wrestling tournament will be on the line this weekend when the Southwest Regional Tournament takes place Friday and Saturday at IUP. The top seven finishers in each weight class at the WPIAL championships qualified for the event. Among those competing will be McGuffey’s Christian Clutter and Frazier’s Thayne Lawrence, both of whom picked up their third WPIAL title over the weekend. It’s been quite a senior year for Clutter, a Seton Hill football recruit who led the WPIAL with 41 touchdowns last fall. * Class 3A wrestlers begin their postseason Saturday. The WPIAL section tournaments will be held at Kiski Area, Connellsville, Fox Chapel and Chartiers Valley. The top five wrestlers in each weight class in each of the four sections will earn bids to the WPIAL championship March 1-2 at Canon-McMillan. From there, the top four finishers in each class will advance to the PIAA tournament March 7-9 in Hershey. Three current WPIAL wrestlers won PIAA Class 3A titles last year: Seneca Valley’s Alejandro Herrera-Rondon, Shaler’s Ryan Sullivan, North Hills’ Sam Hillegas. |