WPIAL pairings
Uniontown, Connellsville boys pleased with draw GREEN TREE – Uniontown and Connellsville were pleased with the outcome of the WPIAL boys basketball playoff pairings announced on Tuesday.
The same can’t be said for the three local teams out of Section 2-A when the field was revealed at the Green Tree Radisson.
Uniontown (20-3, 13-1), the Section 3 champion, was made the second seed in Class AAA and will receive a first-round bye, while Connellsville (22-2, 12-0), which finished first in Section 2, garnered the third seed in Class AAAA.
The Red Raiders will play the winner between seventh-seeded Hampton and 10th-seeded South Allegheny in the quarterfinals on Feb. 21 with the site and time to be determined.
“I’m very pleased with the seeding,” said Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky, who thought his team’s tough schedule helped in the WPIAL’s decision. “I think the teams we beat were quality teams and a lot of them are in the playoffs.”
The Red Raiders’ only section loss came against Brownsville. In non-section play, they split a season-opening, two-game series against Allderdice (11-11) of the City League, and went 5-1 against other Quad-A teams, including a split with Connellsville. They played one game against a Class A team, defeating perennial power Monessen.
Hampton (17-7, 11-3) finished second in Section 1 behind third-seeded Knoch, while South Allegheny (20-4, 10-4) was third in Section 4 behind co-champions Keystone Oaks and Steel Valley. They will play at Ambridge at 8 p.m. on Monday.
Kezmarsky feels his team is ready for the postseason.
“There’s no comparison between our practices the last few days and the ones we had during the regular season,” Kezmarsky said. “They know what’s coming up.”
Waynesburg Central (18-6, 9-5), which finished third in Section 3-AAA behind the Red Raiders and Yough, drew the 12th seed and will play fifth-seeded Moon (17-7, 11-3) at Upper St. Clair at 8 p.m. on Monday. Moon finished second to top-seeded Blackhawk in Section 2.
Steel Valley was the fourth seed in Class AAA.
The Falcons will matched in the first round against 14th-seeded Norwin (12-10, 9-5), which finished second in Section 1 to Hempfield.
“We scrimmaged them at the beginning of the year,” Connellsville coach Nick Bosnic said of Norwin. “They’ve got some big kids inside and they’re physical, and they vary their defenses a lot. It’ll definitely be a challenge for us.
“But I was happy with being a No. 3. I thought we’d be anywhere from third to fifth or sixth, but I thought our kids earned a high seed. This whole season has been good for our school. They haven’t had a section champion here for a while. The fans, the students and the players are all excited about this.”
The Falcons went undefeated in 19 games against Quad-A teams during the regular season. Their only losses came to a pair of Class AAA playoff teams in Uniontown and Hampton.
Upper St. Clair is the top seed in Quad-A, which Penn Hills second and Hempfield fourth.
The WPIAL obviously had little respect for Section 2-A.
Although California won a playoff game last year and almost upset Monessen in the second round, the Trojans (17-5, 11-1) were made only an eighth seed despite a section championship this season. California plays No. 9 Cornell in the first round at 8 p.m. on Tuesday at South Fayette. Cornell (13-9, 6-4) finished third in Section 3 behind Monessen and Clairton.
Geibel Catholic’s storied program wasn’t given much credence either. The Gators (14-8, 10-2) who finished second behind the Trojans, were made the 11th seed and face sixth-seeded Duquesne (9-15, 8-2), a co-champion of Section 4. The game tips off at 8 p.m. on Tuesday at Monessen.
third in Section 2, drew the 13th seed and faces fourth-seeded Monaca (13-5, 8-2), a co-champion of Section 1.
“I thought we’d all be a little higher than that, but nothing surprises me when it comes to the WPIAL,” veteran Gators coach Ken Misiak said. “There’s still favoritism and always will be. I think our kids maybe have something to prove.
“Duquense is always quick and they play aggressive, although they’re not a real good shooting team.
“We’ve got to go in a play our ‘A’ game to win. We have to minimize our turnovers to have a chance.”
Like Misiak, Carmichaels coach Don Williams wasn’t pleased with the seedings.
“I thought they didn’t give our section much respect at all,” Williams said.
“We’ve had a very good year. We started out slow, but we got better as the year went along.
“If we’re playing well and shooting well, we can play with anybody. Monaca is always tough, though. They’re traditionally a good program.”
California coach Steve Luko was unavailable for comment after the meeting.
Monessen was the top seed in Class A, followed by Clairton and Sewickley Academy.
The top four seeds in Class AA were Aliquippa, Beaver Falls, Sto-Rox and Farrell.