Oct 25, 2005 By Rob Burchianti 6 min read

GREEN TREE – Uniontown and Connellsville both enter the WPIAL football playoffs riding three-game winning streaks, but as expected both have tough road tasks ahead of them. Jefferson-Morgan’s path, on the other hand, is even rougher than anticipated, which didn’t sit well with coach Jan Haiden or even several other playoff coaches in the Tri-County South.

All eight area playoff teams – the others being Albert Gallatin, Mapletown, Beth-Center, California and Carmichaels – begin the playoffs at 7:30 p.m. Friday with the exception of J-M, which plays at Duquesne at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The 13th-seeded Red Raiders (6-3, 5-2, third in Keystone) travel to No. 4 Hampton (8-1, 5-1, three-way tie for first in Greater Allegheny) in Class AAA, while the 10th-seeded Falcons (5-4, 4-3, fourth in Quad East) are at No. 7 Mount Lebanon (6-3, 5-2, third in Quad North) in Class AAAA as revealed by the WPIAL at its annual pairings meeting held at the Green Tree Radisson on Monday night.

“We don’t know a whole lot about Hampton so we’ve got to look at the tape and start preparing for them,” said Uniontown coach John Fortugna, whose team is in the postseason for the fifth time in the last six years. “I know our kids have won three in a row, including two over our arch rivals (Albert Gallatin and Laurel Highlands), so our kids are playing well and are in the right state of mind right now.”

Connellsville has won four of its last five as it prepares for the playoffs under first-year coach Tom Dolde.

“Their attitude is good and they’re excited for the chance to win a playoff game,” said Dolde, who was already deep into a tape of Mount Lebanon on Monday night. “We’re a little banged up. Aaron Mead is nursing an injury and we have a lot of other bumps and bruises, but I’m sure all teams do at this point in the season.”

The top four seeds in Class AAAA were Central Catholic, Penn Hills, North Hills and Upper St. Clair.

Albert Gallatin (4-5, 4-3, tied for fourth in Keystone), earning its first trip to the football playoffs since 1987’s consolidation of the old Albert Gallatin, German and Fairchance-Georges, was seeded 16th in Class AAA and must travel to top-seeded West Mifflin (9-0, 6-0, first in Big Seven).

“We’re happy to be there, obviously,” Colonials coach Chuck Colborn said. “We’re excited, but we have to make a showing. Everyone talks about the Keystone Conference getting no respect, but you have to earn it.”

The top four seeds in Class AAA were West Mifflin, Thomas Jefferson and West Allegheny along with Hampton. Keystone champion Yough was seeded eighth while second-place Mount Pleasant was put at No. 10.

Five area teams flooded the Class A bracket, including three of the top eight seeds.

Beth-Center (8-1, 6-1, second in Black Hills) was placed at No. 5 and entertains No. 12 Riverview (5-4, 4-3, three-way tie for third in Eastern), No. 7 Mapletown (8-1, 7-0, first place in Tri-County South) hosts No. 10 Bentworth (5-4, 4-3, tied for third in Black Hills) in a rematch of their season opener, and No. 8 California (6-3, 6-1, second in Tri-County South) is at home against No. 9 Western Beaver (7-2, 5-2, third in Big Seven).

Carmichaels (5-4, 3-4, tied for fourth in Tri-County South) was seeded at No. 16 and will travel to Rochester (9-0, 7-0, first in Big Seven). Haiden’s Rockets (5-4, 5-2, third in Tri-County South) were made the No. 15 seed and must go to No. 2 Duquesne (8-0, 7-0, first in Eastern).

“That’s ridiculous,” Haiden said. “I don’t know what to say. Our whole conference got screwed. They do it to us every year.”

In Class AAA and Class A the top four teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs with the first- and second-place teams receiving home games.

The committee has long had a low opinion of the Tri-County South, so the fourth-place Mikes weren’t a huge surprise at No. 16, but third-place J-M was looking for a bit more respect.

“There are three other third-place teams and three other fourth-place teams, so I don’t know how we got a 15th seed out of that,” Haiden said.

California coach Joe Kuhns and Carmichaels coach Mike Bosnic agreed.

“Jefferson-Morgan deserved a heck of a lot better than what they got,” Kuhns said.

“I was little bit surprised where they put J-M,” Bosnic said. “I thought they’d be at least a little higher. But you never know what they’re going to do. It’s all based on opinion.”

The Maples lost at Bentworth, 28-27, in the first game of the season. The Maples scored with less than a minute remaining to take the lead, but the Bearcats ran back the ensuing kickoff to pull out the victory. Mapletown had beaten Bentworth in each of the three previous seasons.

“I’m sure there’ve been a lot of changes for both teams since that first game,” said Messich, who proudly accepted his teams’ first-place plaque for winning the Tri-County South championship. “The last time we played them it went down to the wire and the year before that it did, too (a 21-13 Maples victory in 2004). I’m sure the kids will be fired up to play them again because of how we lost that first game.”

California is familiar with Western Beaver.

“We played them pretty solid two years ago when I guess we were a pretty big underdog,” said Kuhns, referring to a 35-13 first-round road loss to the Golden Beavers in 2003. “This will be a long trip for them, so that might give us a little edge. We’re looking for our first playoff win since 1986, and I feel pretty good about our chances.”

Haiden knows Duquesne well enough as well.

“We’ve scrimmaged them every year since about 1987,” Haiden said. “So we know what we’re up against.”

Bosnic knows what his team will be up against, too, when it takes the field against the mighty Rams. He’s just not sure what team he’ll see along his own sideline.

“If we show up prepared to play, we can compete with anybody,” Bosnic said. “It’ll be interesting to see how we respond up there.”

Beth-Center’s only loss this season came against third-seeded and Black Hills champion Bishop Canevin, 13-12, on a couple of botched extra-point attempts. The Bulldogs haven’t given up a point since, winning their last five games by a combined score of 243-0.

Beth-Center coach Ed Woods could not be reached for comment on Monday night.

Rochester and the Dukes are followed by Bishop Canevin and Springdale to round out the top four seeds in Class A.

The top four seeds in Class AA are South Park, Greensburg Central Catholic, Aliquippa and Burrell.