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Predicted seedings and pairings

By Mike White | Sunday, Nov. 1, 7:30 p.m.

The WPIAL has a football committee that decides playoff pairings and seedings. But I'm going to be a one-man committee.

Here are my top five seedings for each class and some first-round matchups that I would make. It's hard to come up with all of the first-round matchups because you never know what the WPIAL is thinking sometimes with games involving seeds 5 through 8.

CLASS AAAA

Seeds - 1. Gateway. 2. Woodland Hills. 3. Bethel Park. 4. North Allegheny. 5. McKeesport.

Some first-round matchups - Gateway vs. Plum; Woodland Hills vs. Baldwin; Bethel Park vs. Penn-Trafford; North Allegheny vs. Latrobe; McKeesport vs. North Hills.

CLASS AAA

I think two second-place teams will be seeded No. 3 and No. 4 - and deservedly so.

Seeds - 1. Thomas Jefferson. 2. Hopewell. 3. Chartiers Valley. 4. West Allegheny. 5. This is where it gets interesting. You might want to pick Greensburg Salem as the No. 5 team, but the Lions play in the Keystone Conference and the Keystone is notoriously bad. The conference is 0-32 in the playoffs the past eight years. So, do you put Mars and Franklin Regional 5-6? They tied for first place in the Greater Allegheny. But I predict the WPIAL will go with Mars as the No. 5 seed.

Some first-round matchups -- Thomas Jefferson vs. Laurel Highlands; Hopewell vs. Derry; Chartiers Valley vs. Hampton; West Allegheny vs. either Trinity or Belle Vernon.

CLASS AA

The interesting thing in this class is who should be the top seed? South Fayette? Mount Pleasant? Both are undefeated Mount Pleasant played in the Interstate Conference, which might be stronger than South Fayette's Century. Both are undefeated. Or do you put Center at No. 1? Yes, Center has a loss but the Trojans come from the toughest conference (Midwestern). I'll go with these seeds: 1. South Fayette. 2. Mount Pleasant. 3. Center. 4. Beaver Falls. 5 Shady Side Academy.

First-round matchups: Either South Fayette or Mount Pleasant vs. Kittanning. Center vs. Steel Valley. Either South Fayette or Mount Pleasant vs. Beaver. Beaver Falls vs. Washington; Shady Side Academy vs. Sto-Rox; Freeport vs. Greensburg Central Catholic; Keystone Oaks vs. Burrell; McGuffey vs. Aliquippa.

CLASS A

Top seeds - 1. Rochester. 2. Laurel. 3. Clairton. 4. North Catholic. 5. Monessen.

Some first-round matchups - Rochester vs. Carmichaels; Laurel vs. Burgettstown; Clairton vs. South Side Beaver; North Catholic vs. Jefferson-Morgan; Monessen vs. Springdale.

First-round matchups: South Fayette vs. Kittanning.

Posted Nov 01 2009, 07:17 PM by Mike White

Comments

MontourAlumni wrote re: Predicted seedings and pairings
on Sun, Nov 1 2009 10:19 PM

BVA and CV can't play in the first round (same conference).  It looks like they'll get either Knoch or Hampton.  Knoch won the tiebreaker for 3rd in the GAC...but Hampton seems to have the better resume and would be a much tougher opponent for CV......who do you think the WPIAL will match up with the Colts?

Quiptown wrote re: Predicted seedings and pairings
on Sun, Nov 1 2009 11:08 PM

I am expecting the Parkway conference teams to rip through the playoffs.  I do think all 4 teams from the Parkway conference should win their 1st round games.  Would love to see New Castle match up with TJ somehow.  New Castle has 4 athletes to defend.  But their defense is somewhat soft. I know TJ has a very superb defense.   I also think West A matches up great with TJ, altough their pass defense is not that good where TJ has a great pass catch combo between the QB and their 2 receivers

Quiptown wrote re: Predicted seedings and pairings
on Sun, Nov 1 2009 11:17 PM

I hope to see Aliquippa sneak through the playoffs and get to Heinz field from their 6 seed.  If they are seeded 6 I couldn't see them being seeded any lower.

collegesportsfan wrote re: Predicted seedings and pairings
on Mon, Nov 2 2009 7:56 AM

How could New Castle match up against T-J in the first round or even 2nd round -- no way in the world can you seed them last or even 8th.  IMO, they probably deserve the 5th seed, having lost only to the proposed 2nd & 4th seeds, both close losses ... although having 3 out of the 1st 5 seeds for one conference would be severely criticized.

collegesportsfan wrote re: Predicted seedings and pairings
on Mon, Nov 2 2009 8:16 AM

to further clarify my post above, I can see the argument of seeding an undefeated (within the conference) Greensburg-Salem or a one-loss conference leader like Mars above a New Castle ... but using that same logic, shouldn't they also be seeded above CV and especially West Allegheny?

If you are going to seed teams as to how good you really perceive them to be as opposed to their conference standings for the top seeds (1 thru 4), then I believe this should be uniform throughout.

Mike White wrote re: Predicted seedings and pairings
on Mon, Nov 2 2009 8:59 AM

Ooops. My fault on Belle Vernon-CV matchup. Yes, they can't play because they are in same conference. I will fix that. CV will get Hampton and West A. will get either Belle Vernon or Trinity. .....

But some people are misinformed when it comes to these seedings. Some of above comments show it. While the WPIAL does try to seed teams, they are not all "true" seeds. For example, the above comment says Aliquippa should be a 6 seed. IT CAN'T HAPPEN. Aliquippa finished as the No. 3 team from Midwestern. Because all third- and fourth-place teams play on the road in the first round, Aliquippa can't be seeded higher than 9th, which is exactly where they will be when pairings are announced tonight. Same with New Castle, which finished as the No. 3 team from the Parkway Conference. Thus, New Castle can't be seeded higher than 9th, which is probably where it will be tonight. And New Castle will play Uniontown (No. 8 seed), with the winner facing Thomas Jefferson.

There is no way in the world the WPIAL feels Uniontown is the No. 8 seed in Class AAA. But because Uniontown finished as a second-place team in the Keystone, Uniontown CAN'T be seeded lower than eighth because it plays a first-round home game. In other words, all first- and second-place teams have to be seeded in the top eight, while all third- and fourth-place teams must be seeded in the bottom eight. Understand?

collegesportsfan wrote re: Predicted seedings and pairings
on Mon, Nov 2 2009 12:04 PM

Thanks for the clarification, but it would seem to penalize New Castle if seeding them 9th, even if they thought they were the best 3rd place team since they would likely draw the 1st seed in the 2nd round.  However, T-J doesn't seem to be as dominant this year as the past few years, so maybe NC would be better off ... providing of course, they win at Uniontown (if that is the matchup.)

o_danny_boy wrote re: Predicted seedings and pairings
on Mon, Nov 2 2009 12:51 PM

I think that Greensburg Salem at least deserves the 6 seed.  I know its the Keystone conference but they only played one close conference game, all the others were won by a fairly large margin of victory.  They also beat Trinity and Belle Vernon of the Big Seven,  I don't think they are necessarily a prototypical Keystone conference winner and should be rewarded for going undefeated against AAA competition no matter what conference they are in.  

Quiptown wrote re: Predicted seedings and pairings
on Mon, Nov 2 2009 6:07 PM

New castle is the best  #3 team which is a #9 seed.  I think new castle would be a very tough matchup for TJ. New Castle has 4 athletes with a young QB that gets them the ball. TJ would have their work cut out fir them. If new castle could get a few picks cause TJ is gonna throw it  new castle could pull it out if they were to play tj in qfinals