WPIAL
WPIAL Playoffs: Semifinal Matchups Set
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The opening night of the 2020 WPIAL football playoffs took place last night and for the most part things went as expected.
The only upsets according to seeding were #3 Central Catholic over #2 Mt. Lebanon, #5 Shenango over #4 California and #7 Serra Catholic over #2 McGuffey.
With that in mind, here are the semifinal matchups for next weekend along with the Class 6A Championship Game.
CLASS 1A Semifinals:
#5 Shenango at #1 Clairton
#3 Jeannette at #2 Rochester
CLASS 2A Semifinals:
#4 Apollo Ridge at #1 Beaver Falls
#7 Serra Catholic at #3 Sto-Rox
CLASS 3A Semifinals:
#4 Keystone Oaks at #1 Central Valley
#3 Elizabeth Forward at #2 North Catholic
CLASS 4A Semifinals:
#4 Belle Vernon at #1 Aliquippa
#3 Plum at #2 Thomas Jefferson
CLASS 5A Semifinals:
#4 Penn-Trafford at #1 Pine-Richland
#3 Peters Township at #2 Gateway
CLASS 6A Championship:
#1 North Allegheny vs. #3 Central Catholic
WPIAL Playoffs Opening Round Top Performers
Getting back to last night’s action, here some of the top performers along with some milestones.
Passing:
Serra’s Max Rocco: 18 of 31 for 283 yards
Sto-Rox’s Austin Jones: 18 of 24 for 281 yards
Thomas Jefferson’s Jake Pugh: 14 of 15 for 218 yards
Rushing:
Clairton’s Dontae Sanders rushed for 428 yards.
Apollo Ridge’s Logan Harmon rushed for 248 yards.
Beaver Falls Josh Hough rushed for 210 yards and 5 TD’s.
Rochester’s Rashawn Reid rushed for 204 yards.
Keystone Oaks Mark Hutchin rushed for 202 yards.
Receiving:
Serra Catholic’s Terrell Booth 6 catches for 134 yards
Plum’s Reed Martin 10 catches for 126 yards
Thomas Jefferson’s Preston Zandier 6 catches for 113 yards
Serra Catholic’s Jayvon Holt 6 catches for 110 yards
Pine-Richland’s Eli Jochem 6 catches for 109 yards
Looking at the remaining seeds this backs up the idea that the expanded WPIAL playoffs (4 teams per section) is a joke and going with the top 2 teams is the way to go. Being 4th out of 7 teams should get you a seat in the stands for the playoffs.