The North Allegheny Tigers and the Peters Township Indians claimed the respective 6A and 5A WPIAL Championships on Saturday, but their work is far from finished. The championship-winning teams now advance into the PIAA state playoff bracket’s quarterfinals, where they will continue their quest for a state title next week.
After defeating the Central Catholic Vikings 44-41 in a thrilling rematch, the North Allegheny Tigers will host the McDowell Trojans at 7 pm on Friday, November 24. McDowell holds an 8-4 record with dominant playoff wins over Erie and State College so far. The Trojans have a per-game point differential of 15.08 this season, while the Tigers outscore their opponents by 28.16 points per game.
Peters Township defeated Pine-Richland, the reigning 5A state champions, advancing to face the Cathedral Prep Ramblers at the Hagerty Events Center in Erie on Friday at 7 pm. Even though the Ramblers sit at 7-3 on the season compared to the Indians’ 13-0, they’ll enter this game as the home team. What’s more, they’ll enter the matchup with some extra rest, defeating Hollidaysburg 63-35 a week early: as such, the Ramblers didn’t play this past week.
Cathedral Prep has outscored their opponents by 114 points this season, a margin of 11.4 points per game. The Tigers, on the other hand, play a much more dominant game with a scoring differential of 424, balancing out to 32.6 points per game.
City League
Outside of the WPIAL, the 11-0 Westinghouse Bulldogs advanced in the 2A state playoffs with a 46-30 win over the Central Clarion Wildcats. The Wildcats were the highest scoring team in the entire state, outpacing their opponents by more than 50 points per game, but they couldn’t stop Westinghouse from breezing past them.
The Bulldogs advance to face the 11-1 Farrell Steelers on the road at 7 pm Friday in a rematch of last year’s state quarterfinal game, which Westinghouse won 34-6 at home. Farrell squeaked past Mercyhurst Prep 16-9 this week, posting a per-game point differential of 19.17 this season; Westinghouse, meanwhile, wins by an average of 24.36 points.
