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Oct 25, 2024 By Rob Burchianti 4 min read

The playoff picture remains murky as the high school football season heads into the final week of the regular season.

Three teams – Jefferson-Morgan, California and Mount Pleasant – have a chance at winning a conference championship tonight, but only the Rockets and Trojans, who play for the Class 1A Tri-County South title at California, have clinched playoff berths.

All but two of the area’s football teams will be in action tonight with 7 p.m. kickoffs. Connellsville ended its season with a win at Uniontown last week to finish 3-6. Brownsville was scheduled to play at Hancock, Maryland tonight but that game has been canceled, leaving the Falcons with a final record of 0-7. Brownsville athletic director Jim Barah said the game was called off because of “safety concerns due to low numbers and injuries.”

California and Jefferson-Morgan feature a pair of the WPIAL’s top players. The Trojans’ Lee Qualk has rushed for a district-leading 1,852 yards and 32 touchdowns while the Rockets’ Houston Guesman has already joined the 1,000-1,000 club this season with 1,036 rushing yards and 1,391 passing yards for a combined total of 2,427 yards. Jefferson-Morgan also has one of the WPIAL’s leading receivers in Deakyn Dehoet with 43 receptions for 795 yards.

Tiebreaker points will play a huge role in which teams will gain automatic postseason bids of which there are two in the Class 4A Big Six and three in each the Class 3A Interstate, the Class 2A Century and the Tri-County South. There are two wild card spots, chosen by the WPIAL football committee, in Class 4A, three in Class 3A and four in both Class 2A and 1A.

The Vikings (3-1, 5-4) host Elizabeth Forward (4-0, 6-3) and can clinch a playoff spot with a win and claim the conference title also if Southmoreland (3-1, 7-2) loses at Greensburg Salem (2-2, 6-3). The Scotties clinch a playoff spot with a win but can still potentially miss out on an automatic bid if they lose to the Lions and Mount Pleasant tops EF. The Vikings can also miss out on an automatic bid with a loss and a Southmoreland loss to GS depending on the scores.

In the Big Six the winner between the Belle Vernon (3-1, 4-3) at Trinity (3-1, 4-5) game will claim the second of the two automatic playoff spots.

In the Century, Waynesburg Central (3-2, 5-4), which hosts Sto-Rox (0-5, 0-8), is in a situation where it can win and not gain one of the three automatic spots or lose and still end up claiming one of those berths.

The easiest path for the Raiders is a win and a loss by Washington (3-2, 5-4) to first-place Seton LaSalle (5-0. 8-0). If Waynesburg and the Prexies both lose and Carlynton defeats Charleroi there would be a three-way tie for third place but the Raiders would take the spot based on their head-to-head wins over Washington and the Cougars. If Waynesburg and Washington both win the two would tie for second place with Keystone Oaks but tiebreaker points would leave the Raiders on the outside looking in and hoping for a wild card spot.

In the Tri-County South, the game between J-M and California will determine first and second place. Bentworth (3-3, 5-4), Carmichaels (3-3, 4-3) and West Greene (3-3, 3-6) are tied for third place but if the Bearcats can win at Avella by three or more points it would claim the third automatic spot. If not and the Mikes win by 10 or more at Mapletown (0-6, 1-8) then they would take the third berth. The Pioneers’ only path to an automatic berth would be a win at Beth-Center (1-5, 1-7) and losses by both Bentworth and Carmichaels.

In other games, Frazier (0-5, 1-7) hosts Springdale (0-6, 0-8) in the Class 1A Eastern Conference, and in non-conference play Albert Gallatin (5-3) travels into West Virginia to play Weir (1-6) and Uniontown (3-5) hosts Southern Garrett (2-5) from Oakland, Maryland.