5 things we learned: Big Seven keeps WPIAL Class A unpredictable

By: Chris Harlan
Sunday, November 14, 2021 | 12:56 PM

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The WPIAL’s smallest classification was also its most unpredictable this fall, but Our Lady of the Sacred Heart coach Dan Bradley says he isn’t surprised by who is still standing.

The final four in Class A has three teams from the Big Seven, including his ninth-seeded Chargers, who upset No. 1 Clairton on Friday. They’re joined in the semifinals by conference foes No. 2 Cornell and No. 5 Rochester, along with No. 3 Bishop Canevin, the only team remaining from the Eastern.

The Tri-County South was eliminated in the first round.

“Our conference is competitive from top to bottom,” Bradley said. “The Big Seven really prepares you through a tough grind to be ready for the playoffs.”

As proof, every Big Seven team had at least two conference wins. And nobody survived the conference schedule unblemished, with OLSH, Cornell and Rochester all beating one another in the regular season. OLSH also lost to Northgate and Shenango, and Rochester lost to Union.

Next week’s semifinals match OLSH vs. Rochester at North Hills, and Cornell vs. Bishop Canevin at Montour. This is the first time since 2001 that the Big Seven has three teams in the semifinals.

“I’m not surprised,” Bradley said. “Not at all.”

Bishop Canevin, the conference outlier, reached the WPIAL semifinals for the first time since 2011.

The Big Seven once dominated Class A, winning 12 titles in 15 years from 1990-2004, before Clairton shifted power to the Eastern. Clairton was trying to reach the semifinals for the 19th year in a row.

But on Friday, OLSH rallied from a 15-point deficit to defeat the Bears, 29-15. OLSH quarterback Nehemiah Azeem threw for two touchdowns and rushed for another.

The win cleared a postseason hurdle for OLSH, which lost to Clairton in each of the past two playoffs. Clairton won 54-20 last season.

“The message was, ‘Let’s go play,’” Bradley said. “We had a lot of freshmen and sophomores playing last year. We’re a year older. We’re much better, much improved than we were last year.”

Standouts sidelined?

Two of the WPIAL’s top teams were left short-handed Friday night.

The league’s leading rusher and the starting quarterback for Class 6A’s top seed both left their playoff games injured, leaving their availability next week in question.

Steel Valley running back Nijhay Burt badly sprained an ankle when he was tackled from behind in the first quarter of Friday’s quarterfinal win over South Side. After being helped to the sideline, the senior returned briefly to play defense before quickly leaving again.

Steel Valley is the No. 1 seed in Class 2A. Coach Ray Braszo said he was unsure whether Burt would play next week when the Ironmen face No. 5 Beaver Falls in the semifinals.

Burt leads the WPIAL in rushing with 2,033 yards on 152 carries.

Mt. Lebanon quarterback Joey Daniels sat out the entire second half of Friday’s win over North Allegheny with an undisclosed injury. The senior appeared in pain after being tackled late in the second quarter but later returned and finished the final minutes of the half.

However, the top-seeded Blue Devils had backup David Shields at quarterback for the second half of the 28-17 semifinal win. Daniels has thrown for 1,329 yards and 19 touchdowns.

Mt. Lebanon plays No. 2 Central Catholic in the WPIAL Class 6A final at 7 p.m. Saturday at Norwin.

Six for six

Six-touchdown games don’t occur often, yet the WPIAL saw two Friday night.

Sto-Rox quarterback Josh Jenkins and Avonworth running back Ian Syam each contributed six touchdowns to their teams’ WPIAL quarterfinal wins. Jenkins threw for six touchdowns while Syam rushed for six scores.

Their individual stat lines were impressive.

Jenkins completed 13 of 14 throws for 411 yards and touchdowns of 9, 47, 11, 40, 70 and 21 yards in a 62-14 win over Mohawk.

Syam rushed for 244 yards on nine carries with touchdown runs of 21, 21, 10, 73, 76 and 18 yards. Avonworth defeated Mt. Pleasant, 49-7.

Making another run

Maybe Beaver Falls and Pine-Richland were counted out a little too soon.

By mid-September, the defending WPIAL champions were off to disappointing 0-3 starts and facing questions about whether this would be a letdown season for them. Yet, here they both are, back in the WPIAL semifinals.

Pine-Richland has won five of its past six games, including a 20-14 quarterfinal win over Peters Township on Friday. The Rams face No. 2 seed Penn-Trafford in the Class 5A semifinals.

Beaver Falls owns an eight-game winning streak after Friday’s 40-0 win over New Brighton in the Class 2A quarterfinals. The Tigers face No. 1 Steel Valley on Friday at Dormont Stadium.

City and states

The PIAA playoffs have already started for some districts, and City League teams went 1-1 this weekend in the state tournament. Westinghouse’s postseason will continue after a 35-34 win over Windber in a Class 2A regional game Friday, but University Prep’s year ended Saturday with a 6-0 loss to Juniata.

City League champion Allderdice remains alive in the PIAA Class 6A bracket, but the Dragons had this week off. They’ll host District 10 champion McDowell at 7 p.m. next Saturday at Cupples Stadium.

Westinghouse plays next Friday against Farrell at a site and time to be determined.

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.