The WPIAL semifinals in 1A – 5A took place on Friday night. Tomorrow night, Mt. Lebanon and Central Catholic will face off for the 6A Championship at Norwin. Check out a preview of that game here. Tonight’s results set the stage for next weekend at Heinz Field. The 1A and 2A Championship Games will be on Friday afternoon and the 3A, 4A, and 5A title games will take place on Saturday.
5A Semifinals Results
1. Moon 14, 5. Penn Hills 9 – Moon built a 14-3 lead and was dominating defensively, but a 70-yard run by Amir Key set up a Penn Hills touchdown to cut the lead to 14-9. Penn Hills drove down the field but Moon came up with an interception with 2 minutes left.
2. Penn-Trafford 24, 3. Pine-Richland 6 – A defensive struggle that was 3-0 at halftime. Cade Yacamelli put the team on his shoulders in the second half and scored three touchdowns to stretch out the lead and send the Warriors to Heinz Field for the fourth time in school history. Penn-Trafford has the most playoff wins of any school without winning a WPIAL title and will get a shot to end that streak next week.
5A Championship Matchup
1. Moon vs 2. Penn-Trafford
4A Semifinals Results
1. Belle Vernon 21, 5. Thomas Jefferson 7 – Devin Whitlock scored on two long rushing TDs in the first half. In the early fourth quarter, Quinton Martin put the game on ice and burst through the middle of the TJ defense to make the game 21-0.
2. Aliquippa 27, 3. McKeesport 21 – McKeesport jumped out to a 14-0 lead but the Quips battled back to tie up the game. In the third quarter Bobbie Boyd, who scored the first touchdown of the game, did it on defense with a 70-yard pick-six to put the Tigers back in front. Aliquippa never gave up and freshman Tiqwai Hayes ran for over 200 yards and 2 TDs to tie the game with about 9 minutes left. In overtime, Aliquippa got to the goal line but McKeesport’s defense stopped them three times. McKeesport missed a 24-yard field goal to send the game to a second overtime. The Tigers fumbled on third down in the second frame and Aliquippa hit a play-action touchdown pass to send the Quips back to Heinz Field for the 14th straight season!
4A Championship Matchup
1. Belle Vernon vs 2. Aliquippa
3A Semifinals Results
1. Central Valley 51, 4. Elizabeth Forward 0 – The game was just 3-0 after the first quarter before Central Valley’s offense just exploded. Matt Merritt scored on 47 and 87 yard runs on QB keepers. Landon Alexander ran for two TDs to put the game into the mercy rule then Jack Bible snagged a pick-six.
2. North Catholic 7, 3. Avonworth 0 – The game was scoreless at halftime after a number of turnovers in the first half. In the third quarter, Avonworth drove down the field using a Wildcat formation with Ian Syam, but North came up with a 4th down stop in the red zone. Halfway through the third, Joey Prentice’s arm carried the Trojans down the field then he punched it in from a yard out. Avonworth drove the ball into the red zone in the final two minutes and North Catholic came up with an interception. A few plays later, North Catholic fumbled the ball back to the Lopes but the defense stepped up and shut down Avonworth, thanks to a few penalties. North Catholic will play in the WPIAL Championship for the second time in school history.
3A Championship Matchup
1. Central Valley vs 2. North Catholic
2A Semifinals Results
5. Beaver Falls 21, 1. Steel Valley 8 – Steel Valley could never get going on offense in this game and Beaver Falls dominated the time of possession. The Tigers will head back to the Championship Game for the second straight year.
6. Serra Catholic 13, 2. Sto-Rox 12 – For the second week in a row, Serra Catholic’s defense put a lid on a high-scoring offense. The Eagles forced five turnovers on the night. Terrell Booth scored on a 43-yard touchdown pass from Max Rocco with under 3 minutes to go to give the Eagles the lead and send them to Heinz Field for the first time since 2007.
2A Championship Matchup
5. Beaver Falls vs 6. Serra Catholic
1A Semifinals Results
9. OLSH 14, 5. Rochester 13 – Nehemiah Azeem ran for a touchdown in the first quarter and threw for another right before halftime. Rochester scored midway through the third quarter but missed the extra point. After that OLSH’s defense locked it down and booked a trip to Heinz Field, avenging their loss from earlier this season.
3. Bishop Canevin 24, 2. Cornell 7 – Freshman QB Kole Olszeski threw two touchdown passes to Lesae Lacks, who also had an interception in the first half. Canevin’s defense stifled Cornell’s explosive offense to send the Crusaders to Heinz Field for the first time since 1990!
1A Championship Matchup
3. Bishop Canevin vs 9. OLSH
