Challenging opening-round foes await A-K Valley football teams in WPIAL playoffs

By: Michael Love
Saturday, October 29, 2022 | 7:35 PM

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Call it the Avenue to Acrisure.

The road to the WPIAL championship games has been set for all of the playoff-qualifying teams, including the six that made it in from the Alle-Kiski Valley: Highlands, Freeport, Leechburg, Deer Lakes, Apollo-Ridge and Burrell.

The Golden Rams (9-1) defeated Hampton on Friday to secure the runner-up spot in the Class 4A Greater Allegheny Conference and earn a first-round home game for the second year in a row.

Highlands, whose only loss came to Armstrong (9-1) two weeks ago, garnered the No. 6 seed and will host No. 11 Latrobe (6-4) at 7 p.m. Friday.

The Golden Rams hope their home playoff fortunes Friday are different than last year when they fell to New Castle in the first round.

“The guys have worked hard all season,” first-year Highlands coach Matt Bonislawski said.

“Going 9-1 against a tough schedule in and out of conference is a great achievement for us. They are excited to be back in the playoffs with another chance to do big things. ”

The Golden Rams/Wildcats winner faces No. 3 Thomas Jefferson in the quarterfinals Nov. 11.

Highlands seeks its first playoff victory since 2014 when it topped New Brighton in the Class 2A first round.

“We’ve been making sure we concentrate only on the game in front of us,” Bonislawski said.

“If we don’t bring it against Latrobe, we won’t have another game, so we can’t worry about anyone else.”

Freeport (9-1) enters the postseason for the third year in a row and fifth time in the past six seasons.

The Class 3A Allegheny 6 Conference champion has won six in row since its only loss, a 42-7 setback to Class 4A No. 4 Armstrong. The Yellowjackets, who have averaged 45.3 points over the past four games, are the No. 4 seed in the Class 3A bracket and earned a bye into the quarterfinals.

Freeport opens at home Nov. 11 against the winner of No. 5 West Mifflin (5-5) and No. 12 Southmoreland (4-6).

“We’re playing pretty well right now,” Yellowjackets veteran coach John Gaillot said.

“We did have a few too many penalties Friday (against Deer Lakes), but I am sure we’ll get that cleaned up. Everyone is healthy, and we have a week to get the bumps and bruises out. We will have a week to work on a few things. Some of the guys were hoping we might get the fifth seed so we could play this week with the momentum we have.”

Leechburg (7-3) saw its four-game winning streak snapped Friday with a 48-21 loss to Class A Eastern Conference champion Greensburg Central Catholic (8-2). The setback dropped it to the No. 3 spot in the conference below the Centurions and Clairton (5-5).

The Blue Devils will be on the road Friday as the No. 13 seed against No. 4 and undefeated Mapletown (10-0) at 7 p.m.

“We’ll, I thought (the seed) was a little high for us,” said Leechburg coach Randy Walters, who will guide the team into the playoffs for the second year in a row after a then-record 31-year absence.

“But the committee has the job of getting the teams paired up the best they can, and our job now is to get ready to go and play a pretty good football team. We have a big challenge, and hopefully we can get down there with as many healthy people as possible.”

The Blue Devils will not have sophomore tight end linebacker Jake Cummings for the playoffs after he suffered a hand injury a couple of weeks ago.

“That’s tough because he really was having a great season,” Walters said. “He scored six touchdowns for us and was a hellacious blocker at tight end. He was playing well at linebacker for us, too. He wanted to club it up and keep playing but he had to have surgery.”

Apollo-Ridge enters the playoffs with a ton of momentum off of an overtime upset of Serra Catholic two weeks ago and Friday’s 28-14 victory at Burrell.

As the No. 11 seed in Class 2A, the Vikings (6-4) will pay a visit to Dormont Stadium against No. 6 Keystone Oaks (8-2), the runner-up to Sto-Rox in the Century Conference.

Apollo-Ridge controlled its own destiny with a win-and-it’s-in scenario against the Bucs (6-4). Two touchdowns and 148 rushing yards from Nick Curci, a touchdown connection from Gage Johnston to Jake Mull, and a long kickoff return from Mull helped Apollo-Ridge secure fourth place in the Allegheny Conference.

The Vikings are back in the playoffs after a one-year hiatus.

Burrell, the No. 13 seed, hopes to have several of its runners healthy this week in advance of a long road trip Friday for a 7 p.m. first-round game against No. 4 Neshannock (9-1).

The Lancers, the Midwestern Conference runner-up, have won five in a row since their only loss, a 22-0 setback to conference champion Beaver Falls.

Burrell is in the playoffs for the second year in a row after an eight-year postseason drought.

Deer Lakes (4-6) hopes to turn around its fortunes from the end of the regular season with consecutive losses to Freeport, Shady Side Academy and East Allegheny.

But before that, the Lancers did what they needed to do with wins over Knoch, 37-36, and Valley, 7-2, to grab the No. 4 berth from the conference.

Deer Lakes, as the No. 10 seed in Class 3A, will travel to No. 7 Beaver (7-3) at 7 p.m. Friday. The winner will visit No. 2 Avonworth in the quarterfinals Nov. 11.

The Lancers are in the playoffs for the third time in program history and the first time since 2015.

The WPIAL title games from Class 4A to Class A will be Nov. 25, the day after Thanksgiving, at Acrisure Stadium and will be livestreamed exclusively by Trib HSSN.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Burrell, Deer Lakes, Freeport, Highlands, Leechburg