A-K Valley lookahead for Week of Oct. 22,2018

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, October 21, 2018 | 11:27 PM

Monday

Boys soccer: Coming off its first section championship since 2003, Deer Lakes will put its unbeaten season on the line as the Lancers (15-0-1) host Beth-Center (8-10) in a WPIAL Class AA first-round game. It’s the first home playoff game for Deer Lakes.

Springdale advanced to the WPIAL Class A championship game last season and hopes to make a similar run this fall; the Dynamos (13-2-1), seeded fifth in Class A, take on No. 12 Bishop Canevin (9-6-2) in a first-round game at Hampton.

Kiski Area is in the playoffs for the 10th time in 11 years, and the 10th-seeded Cavaliers (11-6-1) are at No. 7 Belle Vernon (12-5-1) in a Class AAA first-round game.

A trio of Alle-Kiski Valley teams will look to pull off upsets: No. 13 Fox Chapel (11-6-1) visits No. 4 Canon-McMillan (14-2) and No. 12 Plum (11-7) travels to No. 5 Pine-Richland (10-4-3) in the Class 4A first round, and No. 16 Freeport (8-10) visits No. 1 Quaker Valley (15-3) in the Class AA first round.

Boys golf: Burrell’s Tiger Hubbard and Fox Chapel’s Gregor Meyer will take aim at Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York on the opening day of the PIAA Class AA and Class AAA individual golf championships.

Girls volleyball: WPIAL playoff qualifiers will learn their matchups as the WPIAL committee releases the bracket for the upcoming postseason.

Tuesday

Girls volleyball: The WPIAL playoffs will begin with preliminary-round matchups.

Boys golf: The PIAA golf championships conclude at Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York.

Girls tennis: Knoch will take on District 6 champion Westmont Hilltop in a PIAA Class AA first-round match at Altoona, with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals on Firday in Hershey.

Wednesday

Girls soccer: After getting a first-round bye, No. 3 Deer Lakes opens its postseason with a game against No. 11 Quaker Valley (9-8) in the Class AA quarterfinals. The Lancers (15-1-1) won the first section title this fall.

Burrell took down Yough in its first-round game Saturday, and the seventh-seeded Bucs (13-2-2) will try to topple No. 2 Hopewell (13-1-1) in a WPIAL Class AA quarterfinal.

No. 8 Freeport shook off a slow start to blank North Catholic, 3-0, in a Class AA first-round game, but the Yellowjackets face a big test in the quarterfinals: top-seeded South Park (16-2).

Kiski Area began the Class AAA playoffs with an impressive 4-0 win over Plum, and the No. 7 Cavaliers (14-4) will try to pull off an upset in the quarterfinals against No. 2 Oakland Catholic (15-1), which beat Gateway 2-0 in the first round.

Springdale pulled off a strong performance in its Class A opening-round game with a 5-0 blowout of Chartiers-Houston, and the Dynamos will look to make a statement in the quarterfinals against No. 1 Freedom (17-1), last season’s WPIAL Class AA runner-up.

Thursday

Cross country: Runners will take on the challenging course at Cal (Pa.) at the WPIAL cross country championships, looking to advance to the PIAA meet. The Riverview boys in Class A and the Fox Chapel girls in Class AAA are among the teams looking to challenge for a title.

Hockey: Burrell puts its unbeaten record on the line as the high-scoring Bucs visit Ringgold in a Division II game.

Friday

Football: Valley can clinch its first WPIAL playoff berth since 2013 if the Vikings take down host East Allegheny in a Class AA Allegheny Conference contest.

Kiski Area will try to end its five-game losing streak and clinch a WPIAL playoff berth in one night as the Cavaliers visit Armstrong in a Class 5A Northern Conference game.

Fresh off clinching its second consecutive WPIAL playoff appearance, Freeport will renew its rivalry with Knoch as the Butler County neighbors face each other for the first time since 2005.

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Burrell, Deer Lakes, Fox Chapel, Freeport, Highlands, Kiski School, Knoch, Leechburg, Plum, Riverview, Springdale, St. Joseph, Valley