5 things we learned: Some WPIAL finalists wait decades for championship chance

By: Chris Harlan
Monday, November 22, 2021 | 5:00 AM

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Welcome to Heinz Field.

When Bishop Canevin and Moon last reached the WPIAL finals, Three Rivers Stadium still was standing on the North Short, but those teams’ will end their decades-long waits next weekend. Moon is returning to the WPIAL finals for the first time in 23 years, and Bishop Canevin hadn’t qualified in 31.

Most of the teams in this year’s finals waited less than five years since their last WPIAL championship game, including Aliquippa, which is making its 14th consecutive appearance. Central Valley and Beaver Falls also were in the finals just last year. Penn-Trafford was there in 2017, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in 2018 and Belle Vernon in 2019.

But others have waited longer.

Moon’s most-recent WPIAL championship appearance was a 34-7 victory over Blackhawk in 1998. Bishop Canevin defeated Washington, 21-20, in the 1990 WPIAL finals. Serra Catholic reached the finals for the first time since defeating Springdale, 10-6, in 2007.

The Class 6A finalists didn’t play at Heinz Field, but Mt. Lebanon snapped a 21-year title drought by defeating Central Catholic, 47-7, at Norwin on Saturday. The Blue Devils hadn’t reached the WPIAL finals since 2000.

14 in a row for Aliquippa

How impressive is Aliquippa’s string of 14 consecutive appearances in the WPIAL finals? To put that streak in perspective, consider that Quips leading rusher Tiqwai Hayes is also 14 years old.

In his lifetime, the team has never fallen short of the finals.

The 5-foot-9, 170-pound freshman running back played a leading role in extending the streak Friday night when he rushed 44 times for 229 yards and three touchdowns as Aliquippa defeated McKeesport, 27-21, in two overtimes. That raised his season totals to 1,380 yards, 166 carries and 16 touchdowns.

“He’s getting a lot of attention based on the yards he’s gaining and the number of carries and just being a freshman,” coach Mike Warfield said. “But as a young kid, he goes about his business as an adult. He comes in every day and works hard. His conditioning is at a high level, which allows him to maintain his level of play throughout the game.

“I’m impressed with how he handles his business.”

No. 2 Aliquippa faces No. 1 Belle Vernon in the WPIAL Class 4A final Saturday at Heinz Field. The streak includes eight appearances in the Class 2A finals, four in Class 3A and now twice in 4A.

The next longest streak of WPIAL championship appearances belongs to Thomas Jefferson, which twice reached the finals six years in a row from 2003-08 and 2015-20.

Small-school favorites fall

One common complaint about football in the six-class era has been the predictability of the playoffs.

Since the sport expanded in 2016, teams seeded first or second have won 25 of the 31 WPIAL titles, and nobody seeded lower than third has won a championship. Again this year, the No. 1 and 2 seeds reached the WPIAL finals in Class 6A, 5A, 4A and 3A.

However, the two-small school classes were anything but predictable this fall. The highest seed headed to Heinz Field is No. 3 Bishop Canevin in Class A. The Crusaders draw No. 9 Our Lady of the Sacred Heart at 2 p.m. Friday.

The Class 2A championship matches No. 5 Beaver Falls vs. No. 6 Serra Catholic at 5 p.m. They eliminated top seeds Steel Valley and Sto-Rox on Friday in the semifinals.

Scoring down in semis

This was a good week for the defenses.

If Friday night’s WPIAL semifinal scores seemed lower than usual, that’s because they were drastically lower. Combined, the teams in the 10 semifinals games (Class 5A to A) combined for 299 points, including a Class 3A semifinal between North Catholic and Avonworth that produced only seven points.

Consider, a year ago, there were 593 points scored in those same 10 semifinal games. Previous years’ totals saw 415 points scored in 2019, 467 points in ‘18, 390 points in ‘17 and 511 in ’16.

The weather was chilly but otherwise good Friday night, so offenses can’t blame Mother Nature for their woes.

Semifinal shutouts in 3A

Both Class 3A semifinals were shutouts Friday night, which surprisingly doesn’t occur all too often in the WPIAL playoffs. The last time there were two semifinal shutouts in the same classification was 1999.

That year, West Allegheny defeated Thomas Jefferson, 17-0; and Belle Vernon topped Elizabeth Forward, 28-0.

This year, Central Valley defeated Elizabeth Forward, 51-0; and North Catholic won 7-0 over Avonworth.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Aliquippa, Beaver Falls, Belle Vernon, Bishop Canevin, Central Valley, Moon, North Catholic, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Penn-Trafford, Serra Catholic