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Maples seeded 12th; Raiders draw No. 1 South Fayette

By Dave Stofcheck, For The Greene County Messenger 6 min read

Beth-Center’s Ed Woods had no complaints after learning of his team’s No. 4 seeding by the WPIAL football steering committee Monday evening.

The Bulldogs, one of 12 playoff-bound teams still unbeaten, will host No. 13 Riverside Friday night when the WPIAL Class A playoffs begin.

“I think we earned it,” Woods said of the top-four seed. “I feel pretty good about it.”

Laurel Highlands, which went down to the final week of the regular season before securing a postseason berth, will travel to top-seeded Central Valley to open the Class AAA playoffs.

Unbeaten Central Valley defeated West Allegheny last week to claim the Parkway Conference Crown and most likely secure Class AAA’s top seed.

“We were anticipating Central Valley,” Laurel Highlands coach Zach Just said. “If we could have won one of our other games in the middle (of the season) it might have been different. We’re just glad to be in the playoffs and have a chance to play anyone.

“Our kids will practice hard and play hard no matter the opponent.”

Frazier, whose lone loss came to Beth-Center, received a No. 8 seed and will host South Side Beaver in Class A action.

Like most local coaches, the Commodores’ Michael Steeber wasn’t surprised when his team’s first-round opponent was announced.

“They’re one of three teams we expected,” Steeber said. “I don’t know much about them except that they’re far away.”

The top seeds by classification are Pine-Richland (Class AAAA), Central Valley (Class AAA), South Fayette (Class AA) and Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic (Class A).

Cardinal Wuerl is the defending PIAA and WPIAL champion, while South Fayette is also a defending WPIAL champ.

Elsewhere locally:

— Belle Vernon was seeded No. 11 and will travel to No. 6 Franklin Regional in Class AAA.

— Waynesburg Central drew a tough assignment and will travel to top-seeded South Fayette in Class AA.

— Mapletown was seeded No. 12 and will face No. 5 Avonworth in Class A.

— Connellsville, Class AAAA’s wild-card pick, will travel to top-seeded Pine-Richland.

Beth-Center (9-0) will face a 5-4 Riverside squad that finished in fourth place in the Big Seven Conference.

The Bulldogs won the Tri-County South Conference and swept through the regular season for the second consecutive year. Along the way, B-C recorded wins over four eventual playoff teams.

An unbeaten record and section championship helped Beth-Center’s cause, but Woods thinks there’s also another factor which played into a top-four seed.

“I think it was how well the Tri-County South did this year with its out-of-conference schedule,” Woods said. “We had five schools that won out-of-conference games.”

“I think victories outside the conference can definitely open up some eyes,” Steeber said. “Beth-Center received a No. 4 seed and that was nice to see.”

Frazier (8-1) faces a South Side Beaver team which finished the regular season 6-3 and claimed third place in the Big Seven.

Under Steeber, the Commodores are always one of Class A’s more balanced teams offensively.

“We don’t plan to really change much,” Steeber said. “We’ll take a look at the film, but we’re going to try to do what we do best (on offense), play good defense and play physical football.”

Mapletown (7-2) suffered losses to Beth-Center and Frazier, but finished the regular season strong with five consecutive victories.

The Maples will face an 8-1 Avonworth team that finished a game back of Cardinal Wuerl in the Black Hills Conference.

“Sixteen teams make the playoffs and they’re all good,” Mapletown coach George Messich said. “It doesn’t matter who you play, you have to play your best game.

“We’re happy to be playing Avonworth. They have a small quarterback, but he’s quick and he will throw the football deep. I think up front we can match up with them.”

Under coach Russ Moore, Waynesburg won a WPIAL Class AA title in 1998, but the road ahead is much tougher this time around.

The Red Raiders (6-3) finished fourth in the Interstate Conference and will face an unbeaten South Fayette team led by senior quarterback Bret Brumbaugh.

Brumbaugh holds WPIAL career records for passing yardage and touchdowns thrown.

“We knew we’d be anywhere from No. 13, 14, 15 or 16,” Moore said. “For us this is a close game. I’m sure they looked at that and this is probably the closest they could get us. We knew we would be in the bottom four. All the top four are pretty even.

“You find out who you’re playing and you move on. The first year I got caught up in the seeding and I got all upset. I don’t know if that became a distraction. You’re going to see the best teams sometime down the road if you’re any good, you might as well play them early.”

Belle Vernon (5-4) finished fourth in the Big 9 Conference and will face a Franklin Regional squad that has won six of its nine regular-season games.

Franklin Regional finished second in the Greater Allegheny Conference behind Hampton.

“I think we kind of predicted Franklin Regional,” Belle Vernon coach Matt Humbert said. “I think it’s a good fit for us. I think it’s a fairly good seed, but to me it really didn’t matter. They’re a good hard-nosed team. We like to run, they like to run. It’s a good matchup to see if they’re as good up front as we are up front.

“We’ve been balanced at throwing the football and at the same time I feel like we can line up and go heavy and run our tailbacks. Everything is kind of gelling right now.”

Laurel Highlands (4-5) started out the season 3-1 in Big 9 play, but a four-game losing skid forced the Mustangs to win their regular-season finale at Albert Gallatin to secure a spot in the postseason.

While its season may have been up and down, Laurel Highlands has shown its offense can move the football regardless of the opposition.

“We have to play a perfect game,” Just said. “Central Valley is a very good football team and they’re well coached. I think we’ve proven at times that we have the ability to be a very good football team, but we have to put it together for four quarters.”

Connellsville (3-6) finished in sixth place in the Foothills Conference, but was tabbed as Quad-A’s wild card entrant when Baldwin and Butler both suffered Week 9 defeats.

The Falcons will face a 9-0 Pine-Richland squad that captured the Northern Eight Conference.

“They are the No. 1 seed and deservedly so,” Connellsville coach Dave McDonald said. “Two weeks ago they beat Central Catholic, which was the No. 1 team in the state. Eric (Kasperowicz) has done a very good job of transitioning his team from Class AAA to Quad A.”

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