Five things we learned from Week 11 of WPIAL football season

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, November 11, 2017 | 7:39 PM

Previous Next

Previous Next

Welcome back.

Some familiar school buses will arrive Saturday at Heinz Field for the WPIAL football championships, bringing with them players, bands and fans from Aliquippa, Central Catholic and Thomas Jefferson. Combined, those three powerhouses have made 30 finals appearances since the stadium opened in 2001.

Aliquippa is making its 10th consecutive appearance, a WPIAL record.

Thomas Jefferson and Central Catholic, each a defending champion, are headed to Heinz Field for the ninth time. This will be the Quips' 12th appearance in that 17-year span.

Some schools know the way to the North Shore better than others. Seven of the eight WPIAL finalists have reached the championship since 2009.

Gateway, which owns five WPIAL titles, was runner-up in 2009.

Montour owns four titles and won most recently in 2011.

Pine-Richland won WPIAL titles in 2007 and '14.

Penn-Trafford, which hasn't won a WPIAL title, was runner-up in 1997 and 2015.

Since 2001, Central Catholic and Thomas Jefferson each have won six titles, and Aliquippa has won five.

Quaker Valley earns first WPIAL finals appearance

One newcomer will find its way to Heinz Field this week.

Quaker Valley qualified for the WPIAL football finals for the first time in school history by defeating Seton LaSalle in the semifinals. It's been a surprising season for the Quakers, who saw their head coach resign just before the season.

The Quakers have never before reached the finals, but two of their predecessors did. Sewickley was WPIAL co-champion with Glassport in 1938, a year after losing in the final to Masontown. Leetsdale was runner up to Bridgeville in 1942. The two schools merged to form Quaker Valley in 1956.

Class 4A finalists have reason to stay up late

Either Thomas Jefferson or Montour will have a late-night celebration at Heinz Field. The WPIAL released its schedule for Saturday's four championship games, and the Class 4A matchup was slotted as the 8 p.m. finale. The order will be Class 3A, 6A, 5A and 4A.

The first three games match Aliquippa and Quaker Valley at 11 a.m., Pine-Richland and Central Catholic at 2 p.m. and Penn-Trafford and Gateway at 5 p.m.

The WPIAL at times arranges the games in cooperation with AT&T Sportsnet, which televises the championships. The first two games will be televised live with the final two shown tape-delayed after Saturday's Penguins game.

Jurkovec joins elite list with 7,000 passing yards

When this season started, there were only four passers in WPIAL history with 7,000 career yards. In recent weeks, that number has nearly doubled to seven.

Pine-Richland quarterback Phil Jurkovec joined the club Friday night with a 432-yard performance against North Allegheny. The Notre Dame commit completed 18 of 20 attempts and threw five touchdowns. Afterward, NA coach Art Walker called Jurkovec the best dual-threat quarterback his teams had ever faced.

“You're going to be watching him play at Notre Dame, and you're going to watch him play on Sundays,” Walker said. “He made a couple throws tonight that were unreal.”

South Fayette's Drew Saxton (7,445) and Gateway's Brady Walker (7,442) also reached the mark this season. Saxton's season is complete, but Walker will play Saturday in the Class 5A final.

There's always next year

Teams that missed the WPIAL playoffs this season could take inspiration from Montour, Penn-Trafford and Quaker Valley. All three missed the playoffs last season but bounced back this year to reach the WPIAL finals.

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

Tags: Aliquippa, Central Catholic, Greensburg C.C., Montour, Penn-Trafford, Pine-Richland, Quaker Valley, Thomas Jefferson