George Guido: Familiar teams return to WPIAL football playoff field

By: George Guido
Saturday, October 30, 2021 | 4:44 PM

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Familiar faces and some newcomers dot the WPIAL football playoff field.

The amazing run by Aliquippa and Thomas Jefferson continues. The Quips and the Jaguars, who met in the Class 4A finals last season, are in the WPIAL postseason for the 27th straight season. In fact, Aliquippa is in the playoffs for the 40th time in 42 seasons, only sitting home from the playoff party in 1986 and ’94.

On the other hand, the 16-year playoff streak for Mars is over.

Locally, the longest WPIAL playoff drought is over with Leechburg making the playoffs for the first time since 1988. Brownsville has not made the playoffs since 2000, but that school is leaving WPIAL football for an independent schedule, leaving Carlynton (2001), with the longest non-playoff streak.

No goals to glory

Seemingly the biggest upset of the young WPIAL fall sports postseason was the ninth-seeded Fox Chapel girls soccer team defeating No. 1 North Allegheny on Thursday, 1-0, in a penalty kick shootout.

“You just have to recognize the strength of North Allegheny in every aspect of coaching, tactical choices and the players themselves,” Foxes coach Peter Torres said.

It was the second straight playoff game where Fox Chapel won in a shootout after scoreless regulation and overtime sessions. The same situation occurred in Monday’s first-round match against Bethel Park.

Thursday’s quarterfinal went into the sixth round of sudden death with Makayla Mulholland, Mia Nury, Kate Friday, Lauren Rabbitt and Addie Piper converting their shots. Goalkeeper Molly McNaughton made the save to end it all.

“You hope your players are confident and cool when they take their shots,” Torres said. “It’s really exciting when you make the shots and really frustrating when you don’t.”

The two-time defending WPIAL champion Tigers saw their season end at 15-1-1.

Fox Chapel (10-7-1) will be in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Monday against Seneca Valley at North Allegheny. A win there would put the Foxes in the Class 4A title game and qualify Fox Chapel for a PIAA playoff berth.

Fox Chapel is in the WPIAL girls soccer playoffs for the 13th time in the last 14 seasons.

Matsook and Hall

One of the WPIAL’s top football coaches met a milestone Friday while another saw the end of an outstanding career.

Rochester’s Gene Matsook won the 200th game of his coaching career as the Rams defeated Northgate, 48-6.

Hall, meanwhile, coached his last game for Jeannette Friday, ending 37 seasons on the sidelines for the Jayhawks, including 13 as a head coach.

Despite all the troubles this season with transfers, injuries and low player turnout, Hall’s all-time record is 116-36 (.763). One quarter of those losses — nine — came this season.

Singleton singled out

Congratulations to Butler’s C.J. Singleton, the WPIAL Class 3A cross country individual winner from Thursday’s WPIAL meet.

Singleton, who declared for Notre Dame on Sept. 7, is the grandson of retired Leechburg boys basketball coach and Burrell softball coach Larry Ondako.

Over the summer, Singleton finished seventh in the Nike Nationals 5K race with a time of 14:43.

He attended St. Joseph High School as a freshman before moving on to Butler.

Playoff persistence

Here are the Alle-Kiski Valley schools with the most playoff seasons:

School, Playoff seasons, First, Most recent

Freeport, 31, 1963, 2021

Highlands, 22, 1976, 2021

Kiski Area, 21, 1968, 2019

Knoch, 20, 1976, 2014

Burrell, 19, 1967, 2021

Plum, 19, 1975, 2021

Springdale, 19, 1946, 2021

Tags: Aliquippa, Butler, Fox Chapel, Jeannette, Leechburg, Rochester, Thomas Jefferson