WPIAL Championships take place at Heinz Field

photo from punxsypage.com

photo from punxsypage.com

Alex Manjerovic, Sports Editor

Each year, every high school football team in the WPIAL aspires to one goal: to make it to the WPIAL Championship game. This past Saturday, eight teams lived out that dream as the four WPIAL Championship games were played in front of thousands at Heinz Field.

SINGLE A: Clairton – 46, Avonworth 14

In Single A, it was the undefeated Clairton Bears against the one-loss Avonworth Antelopes. Avonworth was the lowest seeded team to make it to Heinz, and the ‘Lopes kept it close early on as they were down just five points after the first quarter. But 28 unanswered points for Clairton halted any chance for an Avonworth upset. Sophomore Lamont Wade led the way for the Bears with two touchdowns and four interceptions.

DOUBLE A: South Fayette – 31, Aliquippa – 22

South Fayette, the returning WPIAL AA champions, stormed out of the gates strong with 14 straight points to start the game. The Quips fought their way back behind junior Running Back Kaezon Pugh to tie it up in the third quarter, but star senior quarterback for South Fayette, Brett Brumbaugh, was too much for Aliquippa. Brumbaugh threw for 352 yards and three touchdowns as the Lions of South Fayette claimed their second straight WPIAL AA title.

Triple A: Central Valley 35, West Allegheny 28

The game of the day at Heinz Field started with Central Valley scoring 21 unanswered points. West A battled back with 21 unanswered of their own to tie it up in the third quarter. From there, the teams went back and forth, with West Allegheny tying it up at 28 with just 2:28 remaining. Central Valley scored the winning TD with less than a minute to play, and the Warriors won their first WPIAL title since 2010. Pitt commit Jordan Whitehead scored three touchdowns for Central Valley.

Quad A: Pine Richland 21, Central Catholic 13

Saturday was the two teams’ second matchup of the season. Pine Richland won dominantly 48-28 in the first contest, but the game was far more competitive this time around. The teams were both scoreless at halftime, but Senior Quarterback and Penn commit Ben Dinucci threw for two touchdowns and ran for one in the second half to lead the Rams to victory. Defending champs Central Catholic could muster up just two touchdowns against the stingy Rams defense.

Saturday’s action wrapped up another great season of high school football in Western Pennsylvania. Congrats to the winning teams and good luck at States.