WPIAL shows love for traditionally tough Parkway, gives home games to 4 teams

By: Chris Harlan
Sunday, October 29, 2023 | 1:50 AM

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West Allegheny’s football team rode on a bus for more than an hour a year ago when the Indians opened the WPIAL playoffs in Fayette County.

The drive was 70 miles each way.

“I’m just thinking of the toll it took on our kids going out to Laurel Highlands,” coach Dave Schoppe said Saturday. “On a long ride, you’re getting the butterflies, getting anxious. You’re on that bus for an hour or so. That is tough.”

It’s the fate most fourth-place teams get dealt but not always. West A finished fourth in the Parkway Conference again this season but there’s no need to reserve a bus this time.

When the WPIAL revealed playoff brackets Saturday, the football committee had awarded the Indians a first-round home game, a welcome perk for playing in a conference considered the toughest in Class 4A.

West Allegheny, seeded eighth, will host No. 9 Latrobe. The home playoff game is the Indians’ first since 2018.

“It’ll be nice to get into our home-game routine and not drive out there, that’s for sure,” Schoppe said.

He joked that an even worse feeling than the long drive to Laurel Highlands was the long drive home, since West A lost. But this time they’ll have a home-field advantage, since the WPIAL committee showed the Parkway lots of love.

Conference champion Aliquippa was seeded first, with Montour third, Central Valley fifth and West Allegheny eighth, meaning they’ll all open with home games. No other conference in any classification earned four home games.

The other top-eight seeds in Class 4A went to McKeesport (second) and Thomas Jefferson (sixth) of the Big Seven and Mars (fourth) and North Catholic (seventh) of the Greater Allegheny.

Teams with first-round byes get a home game in the quarterfinals.

In Class 2A, the Century had teams seeded third (Washington), sixth (McGuffey) and seventh (Keystone Oaks). In that same bracket, the Allegheny drew seeds No. 1 (Steel Valley), No. 4 (Imani Christian) and No. 8 (Serra Catholic).

In Class A, the Black Hills earned three home games with seeds No. 2 (Fort Cherry), No. 3 (Bishop Canevin) and No. 7 (Cornell).

The committee could’ve sent West Allegheny (6-4) on the road to play at Latrobe (7-3) but WPIAL administrator Vince Sortino said the Parkway was exceptionally tough this season.

“Being through it, I would agree,” Schoppe said. “Aliquippa is well-coached and good and physical. They’ve been that way for a long time. Mark Lyons has done a great job at Central Valley. They always seem to get the best from the kids that he has. Of course, Lou Cerro at Montour has just done a nice job there.

“It’s been a little gauntlet for us this year against those three teams.”

Combined, Aliquippa, Central Valley, West Allegheny and Montour have won 15 WPIAL titles since 2010. They weren’t all in the Parkway when they won gold, but they’re all here now.

Aliquippa and Central Valley met in the WPIAL finals just last season. To West Allegheny’s credit, the Indians held their own against both opponents this year, losing to Central Valley by nine points and Aliquippa by only seven.

“The one that haunts you is that Aliquippa game,” Schoppe said. “Two years in a row we’ve played them well. This year it came down to pretty much the last play of the game. They had a kid go up and make a heck of a play, and we came up a little short again.”

The Quips won 29-22.

Interestingly, a rematch with Aliquippa lurks in the quarterfinals, if West Allegheny gets past Latrobe. The Quips earned a first-round bye.

“After we lost this year, I told our guys that if you keep battling, keep fighting, we’ll see that team again,” Schoppe said. “That’s a possibility for us. But right now our focus is on Latrobe. We’ve got to win this week.”

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, Central Valley, Montour, West Allegheny