What to watch for in WPIAL sports on March 23, 2021: 4 more teams try to reach Hershey

By: Don Rebel
Monday, March 22, 2021 | 11:44 PM

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With three WPIAL basketball teams punching their ticket to Hershey on Monday, four more district teams have a chance to join them later in the week in Chocolate Town.

Semifinals on Tuesday feature WPIAL champions from boys 6A, boys 2A, girls 5A and girls A playing for a spot in the PIAA championships.

Here is one final heaping helping of four factoids.

Upper St. Clair vs. Reading, 6 p.m.

• After beating Erie in the quarterfinals Saturday, Upper St. Clair is looking for a second state playoff win in the same year for only the third time in program history. The Panthers won two games in the 1994 and 2003 PIAA playoffs. Both times they lost in the quarterfinals.

• This is the Panthers’ first trip to the PIAA boys basketball final four.

• USC is 7-10 all-time in the PIAA boys basketball playoffs. This is the first time the Panthers have faced a District 3 team in the state playoffs.

• Reading has a rich history in the PIAA postseason. The Red Knights are 52-42 in the state playoffs with a championship trophy won in 2017 and two runner-up trophies from 1934 and 1973.

• One-hundred years ago, the Red Knights played in their first PIAA playoff games, beating Mahanoy City and losing to Williamsport in 1921.

• Reading is 2-0 against WPIAL playoffs teams in the state playoffs (beat Norwin in 1977 and Pine-Richland in 2017 finals), but they are 0-2 against City League teams (lost to South in 1934 and Allderdice in 2016).

Portage at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, 6:30 p.m.

• Our Lady of the Sacred Heart comes into this state semifinals game on a 38-game winning streak. Portage has won four straight after losing to Berlin-Brothersvalley on Feb. 27.

• OLSH is now 15-10 all-time in PIAA boys basketball playoff games since first qualifying in 1985. The Chargers are 1-1 in semifinals games, beating Sewickley Academy, 70-68 in overtime in 2018 and losing to Bishop Guilfoyle, 62-61 a year later in the 2019 semifinals.

• The Chargers are 3-1 against District 6 teams in the state playoffs.

• These teams met last year in the PIAA second round prior to the tournament shutdown. OLSH won, 84-56. Jake DiMichele had 31 points for the Chargers while Preston Rainey scored 27 for the Mustangs.

• Portage is 3-3 in PIAA boys basketball postseason games. The Mustangs have only played one other team from the WPIAL in the state playoffs and lost to Monessen, 69-49, in the 2015 second round.

Chartiers Valley vs. Spring Grove, 6 p.m.

• Chartiers Valley is 20-10 in PIAA girls basketball playoff games and is the defending 5A champ after winning its first state crown in 2019.

• The Colts are on an eight-game PIAA playoff winning streak.

• Chartiers Valley is 1-3 in state semifinals games with losses to Indiana in 2010, Archbishop Wood in 2012 and Cumberland Valley in 2013. The lone win was over Thomas Jefferson, 50-44, in 2019.

• The Colts’ loss to Cumberland Valley eight years ago was the only other time they faced a District 3 opponent in the state playoffs.

• Spring Grove has won 14 in a row since the Rockets lost to Red Lion in late January.

• Since expansion to six classes in 2017, Spring Grove had lost three straight times in the opening round of the state playoffs to West Chester Henderson in 2018, Archbishop Carroll in 2019 and West Scranton in 2020 before beating Hollidaysburg on Saturday.

Bishop Guilfoyle at Rochester, 6:30 p.m.

• The Rams are 4-1 in the last three years with two wins over Otto-Eldred, one against Tussey Mountain and a Saturday victory over Kennedy Catholic. The Rochester loss was against Shanksville-Stonycreek in the 2019 second round.

• Rochester is playing in the PIAA playoffs for the third year in a row as WPIAL champions. This run ended a seven-year drought of missing the state playoffs.

• Rochester played Bishop Guilfoyle 11 years ago in the PIAA postseason. The Marauders beat the Rams, 58-16, in a 2010 second-round Class A contest.

• Bishop Guilfoyle appeared in four PIAA Class A championship games in a five-year span between 2007-2011. The Marauders won state crowns in 2007, 2009 and 2010.

• The last time Bishop Guilfoyle faced a WPIAL team in the girls state basketball playoffs was when the Marauders beat Riverview in a 2015 first-round game, 50-28.