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Six things to watch for the week of Oct. 22-27. * It’s the final week of the regular season for WPIAL football teams. Conference titles and postseason berths are on the line for some teams, while others jockey for playoff positioning. The top two teams in Class 6A square off with No. 1 Pine-Richland (8-1) traveling to No. 2 North Allegheny (9-0). Two unbeaten teams will go head to head when Jeannette (9-0) hosts Clairton (8-0) with the Class 1A Eastern Conference title on the line. Some of the other top games are McKeesport-Gateway, Upper St. Clair-Bethel Park, and Shady Side Academy-Avonworth. * After getting underway Saturday, the WPIAL soccer playoffs resume Monday with boys first round games. Seneca Valley (Class 4A), Franklin Regional (Class 3A), Quaker Valley (Class 2A) and Avonworth (Class 1A) are the No. 1 seeds. The girls quarterfinals are Wednesday. Seneca Valley (Class 4A), Mars (Class 3A), South Park (Class 2A) and Freedom (Class 1A) are the top seeds. Mars and Freedom rolled to first-round wins, while Seneca Valley and South Park earned first-round byes. * The golf season concludes this week with the PIAA individual championships being held Monday and Tuesday and the team championships Wednesday. Both events will be held at Heritage Hills in York. Maddie Smithco of North Catholic will look to follow up her WPIAL Class 2A title with a second consecutive PIAA title. No WPIAL boys golfer won a PIAA individual title last year. Central Catholic’s Jimmy Meyers (Class 3A) and Riverside’s Skyler Fox (Class 2A) hope that won’t be the case again this year. Both won WPIAL titles earlier this month. * A week after North Allegheny and Sewickley Academy won WPIAL girls tennis team titles, they begin their runs at what they hope will be PIAA titles. First-round matches will be held Monday at sites around the state, while the quarterfinals, semifinals and championships are Friday and Saturday at Hershey Racquet Club. North Allegheny, Shady Side Academy and Peters Township will represent the WPIAL in Class 3A, while Sewickley Academy, Knoch and Beaver will do the same in Class 2A. * Also on tap in what is a busy week is the WPIAL cross country championships Thursday at California University’s Roadman Park, as well as the start of the WPIAL field hockey and girls volleyball tournaments. Pine-Richland (Class 3A), Penn-Trafford (Class 2A) and Ellis School (Class 1A) are the defending field hockey champions, while North Allegheny (Class 4A), Knoch (Class 3A), Beaver (Class 2A) and Bishop Canevin (Class 1A) are the reigning volleyball champs. * Pairings for the WPIAL girls volleyball championships will be announced today. All four defending champions have qualified, including three who are ranked No. 1 by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - North Allegheny (4A), Knoch (3A), and Bishop Canevin (1A). Beaver is the defending champ in Class 2A, but defending PIAA champion Freeport is the favorite. |