Home WPIAL 2018 WPIAL Playoff Qualifiers

2018 WPIAL Playoff Qualifiers

by Ian

With Imani Christian defeating Chartiers-Houston on Saturday afternoon, the field of 62 teams for the 2018 WPIAL playoffs are set. Below is a breakdown of the teams that qualified, which teams will get home playoff games, and an analysis of the pending coin flip in the 1A playoffs. WPIAL policy for awarding conference championships is that all teams that finish with an identical record, regardless of tiebreakers are named “co-champions.” Therefore, for example, Aliquippa and Beaver Falls are co-champions because both finished 6-1 despite Aliquippa’s head-to-head victory. The full playoff brackets will be released on Monday night during the WPIAL Selection Show.

Note: All records listed are conference records.

Class 6A

Playoff Structure: The top 6 teams make the playoffs. The top 2 teams get first round byes.

1. North Allegheny (8-0, conference champion, first round bye)
2. Pine-Richland (7-1, first round bye)
3. Mt. Lebanon (5-3, home playoff game)
4. Central Catholic (5-3, home playoff game)
5. Seneca Valley (5-3)
6. Canon-McMillan (3-5)

Class 5A

Playoff Structure: The top 5 teams in each of the three conferences make the playoffs. One of the three 6th place teams earns a “wild card.” The top two teams in each conference plus 2 of the 3 third place teams get home playoff games in the first round.

Allegheny Eight Conference
1. Peters Twp (6-1, conference co-champions, home playoff game)
2. West Allegheny (6-1, conference co-champions, home playoff game)
3.  Bethel Park (5-2, home playoff game)
4.  Upper St Clair (5-2)
5. Woodland Hills (3-4)

Big East Conference
1. Gateway (7-0, conference champions, home playoff game)
2. Penn-Trafford (6-1, home playoff game)
3. McKeesport (5-2, home playoff game)
4. Franklin Regional (4-3)
5. Latrobe (3-4)

Northern Conference
1. Penn Hills (7-0, conference champions, home playoff game)
2. Mars (6-1, home playoff game)
3.  North Hills (5-2)
4. Shaler (3-4)
5. Armstrong (3-4)
6. Kiski (2-5, wild card)

Class 4A

Playoff Structure: The top 4 teams from each of the two conferences make the playoffs. The top two teams in each conference will get home playoff games in the first round.

Big Eight Conference
1. Thomas Jefferson (7-0, conference champions, home playoff game)
2. Belle Vernon (6-1, home playoff game)
3.  West Mifflin (5-2)
4. Greensburg Salem (4-3)

Northwest Eight Conference
1. South Fayette (7-0, conference champions, home playoff game)
2. Blackhawk (6-1, home playoff game)
3.  Beaver (4-3)
4. New Castle (3-4)

Class 3A

Playoff Structure: The top 4 teams from each of the two conferences make the playoffs. The top two teams in each conference will get home playoff games in the first round.

Big East Conference
1. Derry (7-1, conference co-champions, home playoff game)
2. North Catholic (7-1, conference co-champions, home playoff game)
3.  Elizabeth Forward (7-1, conference co-champions)
4.  Freeport (5-3)

Tri-County West Conference
1. Aliquippa (6-1, conference co-champions, home playoff game)
2. Beaver Falls (6-1, conference co-champions, home playoff game)
3.  Quaker Valley (5-2)
4. Central Valley (5-2)

Class 2A

Playoff Structure: The top 4 teams from each of the four conferences make the playoffs. The top two teams in each conference will get home playoff games in the first round.

Allegheny Conference
1. Shady Side Academy (6-0, conference champions, home playoff game)
2. Steel Valley (5-1, home playoff game)
3.  Avonworth (4-2)
4. East Allegheny (3-3)

Interstate Conference
1. Charleroi (6-1, conference co-champions, home playoff game)
2. Washington (6-1, conference co-champions, home playoff game)
3.  McGuffey (5-2)
4. Beth-Center (5-2)

Midwestern Conference
1. Mohawk (6-1, conference co-champions, home playoff game)
2. Freedom (6-1, conference co-champions, home playoff game)
3.  New Brighton (5-2)
4. Riverside (4-3)

Three Rivers Conference
1. Burgettstown (7-0, conference champions, home playoff game)
2. South Side Beaver (5-2, home playoff game)
3.  Seton LaSalle (4-3)
4. Serra Catholic (4-3)

Class 1A

Playoff Structure: The top 2 teams in each of the three conferences make the playoffs. Two of the three 3rd place teams earns a “wild card.” The top team in each conference plus 1 of the 3 second place teams get home playoff games in the first round.

Big Seven Conference
1. OLSH (7-0, conference champions, home playoff game)
2.  Rochester (6-1)

Eastern Conference
1. Jeannette (6-0, conference champions, home playoff game)
2. Clairton (5-1, home playoff game)
3.  Imani Christian (4-2, wild card)

Tri-County South Conference
1t. West Greene (6-1, conference co-champions)
1t. Monessen (6-1, conference co-champions)
1t. California (6-1, conference co-champions)

The top three teams in the Tri-County South are tied across all tiebreakers and the home playoff game for first place will be decided by a coin flip at the WPIAL offices at 10am on Monday morning. All three teams will make the playoffs, but the coin flip will determine which one team gets a home playoff game. The procedure for the coin flip is that all 3 teams flip a coin and the one with the minority result is eliminated (i.e. 1 Head vs 2 Tails). The head-to-head results between the teams then decide first place. Only the 1st place team gets a home playoff game.

Head to Head results: Monessen beat California, West Greene beat Monessen, California beat West Greene.

California Monessen West Greene Result 1st Place Home Game
Heads Heads Heads Re-flip
Heads Heads Tails West Greene eliminated Monessen
Heads Tails Heads Monessen eliminated California
Heads Tails Tails California eliminated West Greene
Tails Heads Heads California eliminated West Greene
Tails Heads Tails Monessen eliminated California
Tails Tails Heads West Greene eliminated Monessen
Tails Tails Tails Re-flip

Based on the possible outcomes, the probabilities for each team are:

  • 25% chance to get a home playoff game.
  • 50% chance to get a road playoff game (either by losing the initial flip or by losing the head-to-head).
  • 25% chance of a re-flip if all three teams flip heads or tails.

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