City League football takes center stage in Thursday’s 3 things to watch in high school sports

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, September 12, 2018 | 7:48 PM

Another busy weekend of high school football kicks off Thursday with a pair of City League teams still in search of their first victory of the season.

Westinghouse takes on Allderdice at Cupples Stadium to begin Week 3 with a combined record of 0-6.

The Dragons have been outscored 85-25, while the Bulldogs totals add up to 100 points allowed and 34 scored.

The start for both is a far cry from last fall.

Westinghouse finished in a tie for third place, one game out of first, and qualified for the City League playoffs.

Allderdice finished tied with University Prep for the regular season crown, and then the Dragons won their first football championship in 50 years with a 35-7 win over Brashear.

Prior to that historic win, Allderdice beat Westinghouse, 21-14, in the district semifinals.

This is the first City League game for the Dragons, who lost nonconference games to Kiski Area, Wheeling Park and Altoona.

The Bulldogs lost nonconference games to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and Linsly School before falling in their district opener last week to University Prep, 18-14.

Turnaround continues

Last year, Oakland Catholic finished in fourth place and qualified for the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs as the No. 16 seed. The Eagles’ stay in the district girls soccer playoffs was short and not so sweet as they fell to eventual champion Moon, 5-0, in the first round.

Also in 2017, Trinity finished a game behind Oakland Catholic and missed out on the postseason.

But while the two teams combined to go 14-18-2 overall last season, the Eagles and Hillers are a perfect 5-0 in Section 3-3A and are a combined 6-1 overall.

After splitting two one-goal matches last fall, Oakland Catholic visits Trinity in the first of two meetings this season on Thursday.

Tennis sectionals continue

Thursday is Day 2 of the WPIAL girls singles tennis sectionals to help set the field for next week’s district championships.

The top three finishers from each section tournament qualify for the WPIAL tournament. Once the field is set, the district steering committee will put the brackets together for the singles championship set for Sept. 20 and 21.

The WPIAL has returned to its longtime tennis postseason format, with the golden order being the singles championships first, followed by the doubles tournament and then the team postseason.

In recent years, the order was switched to team playoffs first, followed by singles and then doubles.

“The old way was better for the overall season,” tennis committee chair Lane Stoner said.

Don Rebel is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Don at drebel@tribweb.com or via Twitter @TheDonRebel.

Tags: Allderdice, Oakland Catholic, Trinity, Westinghouse