The first WPIAL Championships are here! Due to the structure of the overall statewide bracket, the WPIAL Champions in 6A and 4A enter the PIAA playoffs in the quarterfinals. The other four classifications have their champions enter in the state semifinals, which means the 6A and 4A Championship Games happen a week before the other four. The 6A and 4A Championship Games will be held at Norwin Stadium on Saturday. In 6A, Central Catholic and North Allegheny meet in the finals for the fourth time in five years. Central Catholic claimed the 2020 title with North Allegheny winning the last two years. These two have been the dominant forces in 6A this season and meet for a second time (after Central won 27-14 earlier this year). In 4A, we also have a rematch a game that happened earlier this year. Thomas Jefferson and McKeesport were conference rivals the last four years but were separated in this year’s realignment. They faced off in a non-conference game that TJ won in overtime on a fourth quarter QB sneak. Thomas Jefferson is the only undefeated team in 4A and legendary coach Bill Cherpak could break his tie with Bob Palko for the most Championships by a coach in WPIAL history.
On this week’s edition of the WPIAL Blitz Show, we discussed these two matchups in depth as well as diving into the eight semifinal matchups in the other classifications. You can check out a preview of those games in a separate article.
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6A Championship Game
1. Central Catholic vs 2. North Allegheny
Saturday, November 16 6:00pm
Norwin High School
WPIAL Blitz Show 6A Breakdown
How They Got Here
This is the third consecutive Championship Game showdown between Central Catholic and North Allegheny. In 2022 the Tigers swept the regular season and Championship meetings. Last year, Central Catholic under new head coach Ryan Lehmeier stormed past North Allegheny in the regular season but lost in a shootout in the Championship. That spurred North Allegheny on a run to the State title game where they fell to the New Jersey/Maryland/Delaware All-Star Team of St. Joe’s Prep. This year’s regular season meeting was controlled by Central and the Vikings were victorious for the second straight year, by a 27-14 margin.
Central got off to a bit of a slow start this season, losing their first two outings to St Frances Academy, a national recruiting powerhouse in Maryland, and Pine-Richland. The Vikings found their offensive stride after that, scoring 38+ points in all of their remaining games except the meeting with North Allegheny. Central has the highest-scoring offense (42 points per game) and stingiest defense (14 points allowed per game) in 6A. North Allegheny’s only loss this season came against Central Catholic. They had some tighter games in non-conference play but found ways to beat Penn Hills and Pine-Richland – the later victory coming on a last-minute touchdown pass. In the semifinals, Central Catholic blew out Seneca Valley while North Allegheny used a 20-point fourth quarter to run away from Mt. Lebanon.
Recent History
This will be the 9th playoff meeting between Central Catholic and North Allegheny. They have met in the last two WPIAL Championship Games with North Allegheny winning both. This will be the fourth time in five years these two have played in the title game. They also met in the 2020 WPIAL Championship, with Central Catholic claiming the title – the last time the Vikings won a title. With North Allegheny’s victory in last year’s Championship Game, the playoff meetings between these teams are split 4-4. They have also faced each other annually in conference play over the last decade.
Championship Pedigree
Central Catholic is appearing in their 16th WPIAL Championship game. This will be the 6th consecutive year and 11th time in the last 12 years the Vikings have reached the WPIAL finals. All-time, Central is 8-7 in title games but have not won a WPIAL crown since 2020. The current senior class of Central Catholic has never won a WPIAL title, and if they lose would be the first Central class this century to not win at least one WPIAL Championship. Central has won four State Championships, the most recent coming in 2015.
North Allegheny is the two-time defending WPIAL Champions and will be appearing in their 12th WPIAL title game. This current run of titles was North Allegheny’s first Championship since the Ross Morgan Rager culminated a 3-peat from 2010-2012. The Tigers won two State titles in that span and have won three overall. North Allegheny has won six WPIAL Championships, five of them coming during Art Walker’s tenure as head coach. As an interesting subplot to this game, Art Walker coached at Central Catholic prior to taking the North Allegheny job in 2005, winning two WPIAL titles and a State title for the Vikings.
Dramatis Personae
Both teams have had to replace a number of starters since last year’s Championship showdown. Central has a balanced offensive attack with Jy’Aire Walls (2079 yards, 22 TDs) and the helm of the passing game. Walls has spread the ball around to five receivers who all have over 100 yards, led two-way stars Duke-commit Bradley Gompers (708 yards, 10 TDs) and Penn State-commit Xxavier Thomas (563 yards, 10 TDs). Both Gompers and Thomas are recruits on the defensive side of the ball with Gompers playing linebacker and Thomas at defensive back. Elijah Faulkner (909 yards, 14 TDs) has been the workhorse back for the Vikings all season and has a number of offers from MAC and FCS schools. Joining Faulkner in the backfield is Jayden Alexander (447 yards, 6 TDs) and Wallas has run in 6 scores from the quarterback position. Central’s defense also has a pair of junior linebackers with major D1 offers in Colsen Gatten and Ashton Blatt. In the trenches, senior Sam Brackney is a Brown-commit while sophomores Jimmy Kalis and Jon Sassic have already picked up a few offers.
North Allegheny’s offense is primarily centered on their ground game with four players over 200 yards. Dual-threat QB Brady Brinkley (1197 passing yards, 10 TDs, 509 rushing yards, 7 TDs) is the catalyst of the offense with Luke Rohan (687 yards, 8 TDs) leading the run game. Rohan had two rushing touchdowns last week against Mt. Lebanon. The Tigers will rotate through running backs and will get Dylan Brokos (403 yards, 6 TDs) involved as well. When Brinkley does take to the air, James Donaldson (512 yards, 5 TDs) has been his favorite target. North Allegheny also has a D1 talent on the line in Princeton-commit Jack Yatchenko. Drake-commit Nicholas Humphries and junior Kory Pitts Jr (who has an Arizona State offer) anchor the Tigers secondary on defense.
This game could very well come down to special teams. Both teams have high quality specialists. North Allegheny’s kicker Peter Notaro is an Alabama-commit and has booted multiple field goals from over 50 yards this season. Central Catholic’s Billy Lech also has D1 offers and has made 5 field goals this season.
4A Championship Game
1. Thomas Jefferson vs 3. McKeesport
Saturday, November 16 12:00pm
Norwin High School
WPIAL Blitz Show 4A Breakdown
How They Got Here
This is a rematch of a thrilling Week 2 meeting where McKeesport jumped out to an early lead but Thomas Jefferson stormed back to force overtime. In the extra frame, McKeesport kicked a field goal and Thomas Jefferson converted a “tush push” on 4th and 1 for the winning score. That was McKeesport’s second overtime loss in their first three games. Overall, the Tigers had a brutal non-conference schedule. Their only victory came against Belle Vernon but they also had to face two semifinalists from 5A (Peters Twp and Upper St Clair). Once they got to conference play, McKeesport’s offense took off and the Tigers have now won 7 in a row. During that streak, the only team to hold them under 34 points was Mars in a decisive 28-7 victory.
Thomas Jefferson entered this season on a mission to bounce back after last year’s uncharacteristic playoff exit. The Jaguars 2023 season ended with a quarterfinal loss to Montour, just the second time in 25 years that Thomas Jefferson did not make the semifinals. Thomas Jefferson has the highest-scoring offense in 4A, averaging nearly 40 points per game. The Jaguars stormed through their schedule which included wins over both 3A finalists Central Valley and Avonworth. In the playoffs TJ topped longtime rival West Allegheny then beat Aliquippa in just their third meeting in school history. That semifinal victory ended Aliquippa’s run of 16 straight Championship Game appearances.
Recent History
Before this season, when the WPIAL separated the 4A powerhouses into different conferences, Thomas Jefferson and McKeesport had been conference rivals. They played a number of memorable games over the last four seasons since McKeesport moved down from 5A to 4A. This is McKeesport’s second straight Championship Game after falling to Aliquippa last year. The Tigers have been a fixture in the semifinals during the six classification era but this is just their third trip to the finals in the last decade. McKeesport has not won a WPIAL title since 2005.
Thomas Jefferson is making their first appearance in the WPIAL Championship since winning the 2020 WPIAL and State titles. That 2020 season capped a 6-year run of Championship Game appearances in which the Jaguars won 5 titles. Similar to Central Catholic, this senior class at Thomas Jefferson would be the first this century to not win a WPIAL title during their high school careers if they lose this game.
Championship Pedigree
McKeesport is also one of the winningest programs in WPIAL history, currently with 721 all-time victories (the 6th most in the WPIAL). The Tigers have won four WPIAL titles, the first a three-way shared title in 1932. They won Championship Games in 1938, 1995, and 2005. Those later two teams also went all the way to Hershey and won State titles.
Thomas Jefferson Coach Bill Cherpak has won 9 WPIAL Championships and is tied for the all-time lead with the legendary Bob Palko. Overall, Thomas Jefferson has won 10 WPIAL titles. Their first came in 1980 with a win over Aliquippa in the Championship Game. The recent run under Cherpak began 20 years ago when they won the 2004 WPIAL and State Championships. TJ has two three-peats of WPIAL titles from 2006-2008 and 2015-2017. The first of those three-peats culminated with State titles in both 2007 and 2008. They also won back-to-back WPIAL and State Championships in 2019 and 2020.
Dramatis Personae
This will be the third playoff meeting between these storied programs, both prior matchups coming in the WPIAL Championship. Thomas Jefferson won both – in 1980 and 2020. Both of these teams hold the WPIAL record for consecutive playoff appearances, hitting 30 years this season. Aliquippa has reached 16 straight championship games and is the three-time defending WPIAL Champions. This is Thomas Jefferson’s 25th semifinal appearance in the last 27 years, though one of their shortfalls came last year when they lost to Montour in the quarters. The Jaguars have stormed through this season, averaging a 4A-best 40 points per game.
This game has all the makings of an old school knock-down drag out fight in the trenches. Thomas Jefferson has a strong offensive line led by Pitt-commit Shep Turk that has paved the way for sophomore RB Tyler Eber (1785 rushing yards, 204 receiving yards, 27 total TDs). In the Jaguars two playoff games, Eber has racked up 90 carries for 449 yards and 5 TDs. He has topped 40 attempts in both postseason games. While TJ has leaned on their ground game in the playoffs, they also have a capable passing attack. Luke Kosko (1686 yards, 20 TDs) has a good arm and is a Cincinnati baseball commit. Kosko has primarily targeted Brayden White (1057 yards, 12 TDs) but has also utilized Kane Eggerton (264 yards, 5 TDs).
McKeesport’s triple-option offense is clicking on all cylinders with speedster Kemon Spell (1617 rushing yards, 169 receiving yards, 24 total TDs) leading the way. Spell, a Penn State-commit, ran for 274 yards and 2 TDs in the quarterfinals and followed it up with 281 yards and 3 TDs last week. Spell is only a sophomore and has elite one-cut abilities to explode through the hole and take it to the house any time he touches the ball. Anthony Cromerdie (599 rushing yards, 203 receiving yards, 14 total TDs) and power back Anthony Boyd (530 yards, 4 TDs) also feature in the Tigers wishbone attack. McKeesport doesn’t throw often, but Brady Eastman (756 yards, 5 TDs) has been able to rack up some yards through the air as well as on the ground (254 yards, 5 TDs). Eastman has only averaged about 9 pass attempts per game so if McKeesport gets behind in this game his ability to throw may be tested. In addition to Cromerdie and Spell, Javien Robinson (174 yards, 2 TDs) has been the primary target in the passing game. Robinson is also only a sophomore and already has some D1 offers as a defensive back. Fellow DB Valdez Stuvaints (son of former Steeler Russell Stuvaints) is a senior with offers from Youngstown State and Robert Morris.
