Trib HSSN Top 20 Stories of 2020: Mercifully, Central Valley football wins state title

By: Don Rebel
Thursday, December 17, 2020 | 5:20 PM

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The most unique year in our lifetime is coming to an end. With so many mass starts and stops, highs and lows, just about all walks of life were affected by the coronavirus in 2020.

High school sports were no different. The first two and a half months of the year were carefree and business as usual. Then the final nine and a half months were greatly affected by the pandemic, whether scholastic contests were played or not.

Trib HSSN will close out the year with a daily countdown and a look back at the top 20 WPIAL stories from the year 2020.

No. 17 – Lots of Mercy for Central Valley Foes

In 2019, the Central Valley football team raised some eyebrows when they crushed Aliquippa in the final week of the regular season to win the 3A Tri-County North Conference.

The rivals met again in the WPIAL championship game with CV winning again. This time, though, it was a lot closer as the Warriors prevailed 13-12 in overtime.

Three weeks later, Central Valley lost a heartbreaker in the PIAA title game, as Wyoming Area erased a fourth quarter deficit to win, 21-14.

This season, with plenty of players back, the Warriors were driven to win double gold and show no mercy along the way.

Thing is, they showed plenty of mercy, invoking the mercy rule (leading by 35 or more points in the second half to force a running clock) in each of their first 11 games, including a 35-0 win over Elizabeth Forward to repeat as WPIAL Class 3A champions.

The only team they didn’t dominate was the game they wanted most, a 35-21 win over Wyomissing for the Warriors’ first state football championship.

No. 18 – Swimming Sweep…Again

No. 19 – Fabulous Freshmen

No. 20 – Golden Knights of the Tennis Court