No real surprises in playoff pairings; explaining New Castle's seeding

You read my mind about the new castle seeding i was very surprised and it makes sense but when i saw where new castle was put i couldn't believe. It seems like the WPIAL was trying to eliminate the parkway conference as fast as they could. Im interested to see how far West A can get. They have a tough road to travel if the win their 1st game. I will not miss the rematch if west a & new castle square off again. After watching Caputo a few times this year i think he can carry the load.

There should be quite a few matchups in AAA once the 1st round is over.

You read my mind about the new castle seeding i was very surprised and it makes sense but when i saw where new castle was put i couldn't believe. It seems like the WPIAL was trying to eliminate the parkway conference as fast as they could. Im interested to see how far West A can get. They have a tough road to travel if the win their 1st game. I will not miss the rematch if west a & new castle square off again. After watching Caputo a few times this year i think he can carry the load.

There should be quite a few matchups in AAA once the 1st round is over.

How about the AA seedings the WPIAL seemed to set up their heinz field game befor heinz field with seeding south fayette, sto-rox, BF, quips all on same side. That is 4 of the 5 WPIAL ranked teams all year before center beat bf.

The WPIAL did a good job setting up match-ups cause there are are going to be alot of very gpod ones. Just my opinion some are going to be just a bit too early. But thers always upsets that ciuld change scenarios. Thats why i like where aliquippa is and the parkway conference getting a chance to square off with a very good TJ football team.

Nice Coverage on the Parings meeting.  That was pretty sweet.  

re: no real surprises...

Are you kidding me?  WPIAL politics once again raises its ugly head!  An 8-9 match-up between Uniontown and New Castle is exactly the game as it should be scheduled!  Regardless of what other teams are on that side of the bracket.  Yes, New Castle is a good football team, so is

Greensburg-Salem.  Only thing is...Greensburg-Salem won it's conference title and, accordingly, has earned its right to play a#4 seed from another conference.  (or, at least the real #12 seed)  You said it yourself, Mike, nobody actually believes that New Castle is a # 12 seed!

     Regardless, both New Castle and Greensburg-Salem will feel they each have something to prove next Friday night at Offut Field in Greensburg, PA!

My new castle friends are furious that they got the #12 seed and not the #9 seed.  Mike white do you think that the WPIAL is trying to protect the fantastic record TJ is setting by keeping new castle away from TJ as you mentioned. I look at the AA seedings and the WPIAL isn't worried about south fayette, why is that the case. Everyone knows New castle was the best #3 team which calls for #9 seed.

Well maybe the WPIAL can chalk tbis up as another lesson in bad judgement. As a football fan i now want to see TJ knocked off.  Its a shame the WPIAL would show any favortism towards a team, program, school or possibly coach. I rooted for TJ for a long time because it was a great program turned around by a fantastic coach that was from the WPIAL and is nationally recognized i. The high school football world.  Not anymore if the wpial is trying to protect TJ from facing new castle that was the best#3 team that should of been seated #9 but maybe too many tough games in a row because they would of probably faced new castle, west a and hopewell all back to back to back.  

I still say TJ gets beat by a parkway team this year and doesnt take the title. I would even vote for hopewell if they played TJ but wouldnn't tell anyone cause i'm from aliquippa

MIKE - VERY UPSET WITH YOUR REACTION TO AAA SEEDINGS- OBVIOUSLY YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND- HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL IS ABOUT BEING FAIR TO THE KIDS- THEY SHOULD GET OPPORTUNITY IN POST SEASON BASED ON REGULAR SEASON- OTHER POSTERS CORRECT AS WELL WHEN SEEDING COMMITTEE IS PICKING AND CHOOSING WHO GETS THE DIFFICULT GAMES - WE HAVE A PROBLEM- WHY SHOULD GREENSBURG SALEM PLAY A TEAM -NEW CASTLE-THAT HAS NO REASON BEING 12TH SEED AND IS PROBABLY 5TH BEST TEAM IN AAA- AND UNIONTOWN - 2ND IN KEYSTONE WHO GS BEAT 18-0 -WITH 3 LOSSES GETS BELLE VERNON 5-4 A TEAM GREENSBURG SALEM BEAT- PLAYED WHOLE SEASON TO HAVE THIS TYPE OF INJUSTICE-

I HEARD FATHER OF GS SENIOR SAY HIS SON WAS HAVING THE TIME OF HIS LIFE THIS SEASON-  WHY SHOULD SEEDING COMMITTEE  CUT THAT SHORT- IT WOULD BE WORTH IT FOR EVEN 1 MORE GAME TO COMPETE IN PLAYOFFS-

ALWAYS REALLY ENJOY YOUR H.S. COVERAGE BUT IT DOESN'T SEEM YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT- WHEN YOU DEFEND THE WPIAL'S DECISION  

How is the WPIAL protecting TJ?   If they reach the quarter final's they will face either Montour or Franklin Regional - both fine teams.  IF they win that one, they probably face either New Castle or WA - both very good teams.  Hopewell on the other hand will probably get their stiffest test from Chartiers Valley or Hampton.  Chartiers Valley has already lost their main offensive threat for the season and Hampton has been very inconsistant all year.  If NC is as good as people think they will beat GS, WA & TJ to reach the finals.  As far as Greensburg-Salem is concerned, their conference has no one to blame but themselves for the seedings, going 0-32 in the playoff's over the past 8 years.

OLDANDGOOD if you take a look at both AA brackets and AAA brackets and their seedings.  New Castle was the best #3 team coming out of the strongest AAA conference the Parkway conference.  New Castle should have been seeded #9.  The reason I ask you to take a look at the AA bracket is because Aliquippa is in the exact same position as New Castle.  There was a 3 way tie coming out of the AA MAC conference and just so happened ALiquippa lost the 3 way tie to the gardner point system which awarded them 3rd place in the MAC.  Aliquippa was now considered the best #3 team coming into the playoffs which was the exact same thing with New Castle.  As Mike WHite said above key words here "In order to keep New Castle away from Thomas Jefferson or even No. 2 Hopewell, the WPIAL had to seed the Red Hurricanes lower.  WHY???

New Castle shouldn't have been seeded near hopewell they should have been #9 seed. playing TJ in the quarter finals with a 1st round win.

WPIAL had not problem with seeding Aliquippa at #9 but trying to keep New Castle from playing TJ in the quarter finals is why I say the WPIAL is trying to protect TJ.  Now I am not taking anything away from TJ.  Great team, Great program!  What I don't buy is you do the WPIAL does the right thing in the AA bracket but not AAA bracket.  Should be held by same standard.  

I quite frankly love where Aliquippa is because being from Aliquippa we would rather take the high road with competition, especially when its a down year for our program because then we come back stronger the next year which is exactly what the Quips will do.  

In the AAA bracket "it is what it is"  I am just a fan who enjoys high school football and I feel that the seedings made this playoff year very competitive.  However, TJ seeing New Castle in quarter finals would of just been a better matup in my opinion.  Although I watched the West A and Montour game last week and MOntour was a good football team also.  Just extremely young.  

in response to oldandgood- you are right keystone conference does not deserve breaks because of prior years futility but why does 2nd place keystone team get much easier opening round game than 1st place team