High school football kicked off in Western Pennsylvania on Friday night! Below are the scores of all of Friday night’s games along with some game notes on some of the results. Congrats to Chartiers Valley for snapping their 14-game conference losing streak!
Class 6A
Central Catholic 45, Canon McMillan 17 – Central Catholic came out strong in their defense of their 6A WPIAL title.
Hempfield 28, Norwin 14 – Dual-threat QB Christian Zilli led Hempfield past Norwin with 230 yards of total offense and a TD through the air and on the ground.
North Allegheny 27, Penn Hills 6 – This was a non-classification game between two very good teams capable of making deep runs this year.
Class 5A
Upper St Clair 34, Bethel Park 7 – The Panthers dominated on both sides of the ball to open the season with a convincing victory.
Moon 28, West Allegheny 14 – Moon beats their rivals for the second straight season as they open their defense of the Allegheny Six conference title.
Gateway 41, Franklin Regional 6 – The Gators opened the defense of their 5A WPIAL title in style.
Woodland Hills 60, Connellsville 20 – Woody High jumped out to an early lead and never let up.
Penn-Trafford 48, Latrobe 14 – The Warriors got out to a 27-0 lead in the first quarter that they extended to 41-7 by halftime to enact the mercy rule on Latrobe.
Pine-Richland 53, Fox Chapel 7 – The Rams moved down to 5A this season and looked every bit like a team capable of making a 3rd straight run to the WPIAL final.
North Hills 35, Shaler 7
South Fayette 42, Dover (OH) 14 – After Peters Twp had to postpone for COVID reasons, South Fayette scheduled an out-of-state match against Dover (Ohio)
Class 4A
Thomas Jefferson 52, West Mifflin 0 – Thomas Jefferson does not rebuild, they reload. The defending State Champs haven’t missed a beat.
Belle Vernon 20, McKeesport 0 – The Tigers moved down to 4A but ran into a brick wall of the Leopards defense. Devin Whitlock had over 200 yards rushing for Belle Vernon.
Trinity 49, Ringgold 26 – Ringgold’s conference losing streak extends to 17 games.
Mars 35, Hampton 13
Highlands 39, Knoch 7
Plum 36, Greensburg Salem 13 – Greensburg Salem’s 700th win in school history will have to wait at least another week after falling to Plum.
Armstrong 21, Indiana 7
Aliquippa 44, New Castle 28 – In a rematch of the 1987 WPIAL AAA Championship Game, the Quips announced their presence in 4A. The game was tied at 20 at halftime but the Quips pulled away as Jabari Cleckley threw 2 fourth quarter touchdown passes.
Blakhawk 22, Beaver 7
Chartiers Valley 34, Montour 7 – Chartiers Valley wins their first conference game in three seasons, snapping a 14-game conference losing streak.
Albert Gallatin 32, Laurel Highlands 0 – In a non-classification game (Albert Gallatin is still playing as an independent), AG scored a big win over their Fayette County rivals.
Class 3A
North Catholic 55, Derry 7 – North Catholic wins The Trojan War for the second straight season.
Burrell 22, Valley 13 – The Bucs win the New Ken Rivalry Game.
Freeport 29, Deer Lakes 7
Mt Pleasant 21, South Allegheny 14
South Park 33, Southmoreland 23
Central Valley 51, Hopewell 2 – The Warriors came out to defend their WPIAL 3A title with a BANG.
Avonworth 35, Quaker Valley 0 – The Lopes won the 2A title last year and moved up to 3A but looked every bit as dominant.
Keystone Oaks 49, Ambridge 7 – The Bridgers have the longest conference losing streak in the WPIAL and it was extended to 31 games.
East Allegheny 42, Brownsville 0 – This was a non-conference game between two teams that moved up from 2A to 3A this season.
Yough 29, Chartiers-Houston 6 – Yough got off to a strong start in a non-classification game.
Class 2A
Apollo-Ridge 44, Ligonier Valley 7 – Ligonier Valley had not lost a regular season game in over 2 years in D6, but Apollo-Ridge gave them a thrashing in a “Welcome to the WPIAL” game.
Beth-Center 20, Waynesburg 7 – After a down year, Beth-Center bounces back with an opening week win over Waynesburg who moved down from 3A.
Frazier 34, Charleroi 0 – A statement win for the Commodores.
McGuffey 7, Washington 6 – Last year these were the two highest-scoring teams in 2A but were locked in a defensive battle that was decided when McGuffey stopped a 2-point conversion attempt with just under 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Beaver Falls 47, Riverside 14 – Beaver Falls moved down from 3A and announced themselves to the Midwestern Conference in convincing fashion.
Laurel 14, Neshannock 7 – The Spartans got a big win over Lawrence County rivals in their first game after moving up from 1A.
Mohawk 45, Ellwood City 0 – Mohawk’s passing game struck early and got some help from their defense (including a pick-six) in a rout of Ellwood City.
New Brighton 24, Freedom 6 – A dominant night from NyaSanu Greene led the Lions to victory.
Brentwood 33, Seton LaSalle 21 – After a tie game at halftime, the Spartans pulled away in the second half.
Western Beaver 15, South Side Beaver 9 – Trailing 9-7 in the fourth quarter, Western Beaver returned a fumble 76 yards for the game-winning score.
Carlynton wins by forfeit over Sto-Rox – Sto-Rox informed Carlynton of their intent to forfeit late in the day on Friday for reasons not related to COVID.
Class 1A
Burgettstown 27, Fort Cherry 22 – Two teams that moved down from 2A fought a tough battle at Hill Memorial Stadium.
OLSH 34, Cornell 26 – The Chargers won a back-and-forth game between two teams who made the playoffs last season.
Rochester 47, Northgate 6 – The Flames have the second-longest losing streak in the WPIAL reaches 25 games.
Clairton 34, Jeannette 28 – Clairton-Jeannette X lived up to the billing. It was back and forth all night with Clairton emerging victorious to extend their record to 8-2 against Jeannette since 2014 (the Jayhawks are 65-3 against all other WPIAL teams during that time).
Leechburg 55, GCC 37 – Last year, Leechburg narrowly missed ending their 31-year playoff drought (a 1-point triple OT loss to GCC was the difference). This year, the Blue Devils left no doubt.
Springdale 41, Riverview 7 – The Dynamos dominated their Alle-Kiski Valley rivals and can claim ownership of the Hulton Bridge for another year.
Avella 20, Monessen 7 – Avella scores a big win over Monessen in one of the upsets of the night
Carmichaels 41, Jefferson-Morgan 6 – Six different players scored for the Mighty Mikes as they welcomed the move back down to 1A.
California 27, Bentworth 7 – California scored multiple defensive touchdowns to pull away from Bentworth in the second half.
West Greene 43, Mapletown 8 – The first game of the post-Ben Jackson Era was another dominant win for the Pioneers.
Union vs Shenango – Saturday
Bishop Canevin vs Imani Christian – Saturday
