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Six things to watch for the week of Oct. 29 thru Nov. 3. * Local football teams lucky enough to qualify for the postseason will learn the paths they must navigate to get to championship games when the WPIAL pairings are announced Monday night. The likely No. 1 seeds are North Allegheny (Class 6A), Gateway (5A), Thomas Jefferson (4A), Aliquippa (3A), Shady Side Academy (2A) and Jeannette (1A). Gateway, Thomas Jefferson and Jeannette are defending champions. The playoffs for all classes begin Friday. * The WPIAL field hockey championships are set for Monday and Tuesday at Fox Chapel. Three teams are looking to successfully defend titles: Peters Township (3A), Penn-Trafford (2A) and Ellis School (1A). Ellis School has won four consecutive titles and Penn-Trafford has won two in a row. Peters Township meets Pine-Richland on Monday. One night later, Penn-Trafford plays Latrobe and Ellis School squares off against Shady Side Academy. * Eight WPIAL soccer champions will be crowned this week when the boys and girls championships are held Thursday through Saturday at Highmark Stadium. We already know which teams will battle it out for girls titles. It will be Seneca Valley vs. Peters Township in 4A, Mars vs. Oakland Catholic in 3A, South Park vs. Hopewell in 2A, and Freedom and Bentworth in 1A. The boys semifinals will take place Monday. All four No. 1 seeds are still in contention. * Top cross country runners from around the state will aim for PIAA titles Saturday in Hershey. Will any WPIAL champions add another gold medal to their trophy case? North Allegheny’s Daniel McGoey (3A), Greensburg Salem’s Mark Brown (2A) and Freedom’s Adam Hessler (1A) won WPIAL boys titles last week, while the girls champions were Oakland Catholic’s Hannah Schupansky (3A), Quaker Valley’s Annie Wicker (2A) and Shenango’s Carmen Medvit (1A). * The girls tennis season hits its final stage Friday and Saturday when the PIAA championships are contested in Hershey. North Allegheny’s Ashley Huang will try to win her second consecutive Class 3A title. Huang, a Cornell recruit, recently won her first WPIAL championship. Class 2A champion Laura Greb of Knoch also hopes to make a deep run. Among the doubles teams competing are WPIAL champions Ella Santora and Aya Youssef of Shady Side Academy (3A) and Beaver’s Devyn Campbell and Anna Blum (2A). * The WPIAL girls volleyball playoffs will conclude this week. Quarterfinal action in Class 4A and 1A will be held tonight. Quarterfinal action in Class 3A an 2A will be held Tuesday night. The semifinals in Class 4A and 1A will be held Wednesday. The semifinals in Class 3A and 2A will be Thursday. The four championship matches, along with the consolation final in Class 1A, will be held Saturday at Fox Chapel High School, beginning at 10 a.m. |