California and Frazier to meet in WPIAL football playoffs
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
It will be just like old times when the WPIAL Class A football playoffs begin for California and Frazier on Friday.
The Trojans and Commodores will meet in a first-round game at California, according to the WPIAL pairings released on Saturday.
California (9-1) and Frazier (6-4) were former Tri-County South Conference rivals but the Commodores are now part of the Eastern Conference.
“When I played we were in the Tri-County South with them,” said Commodores first-year head coach Tony Battaglini, who is a 2006 Frazier graduate.
The Commodores and Trojans are two of five area schools who will participate in the playoffs, along with Southmoreland (9-1) in Class 3A, Waynesburg Central (5-5) in Class 2A and Jefferson-Morgan (8-2) in Class A.
The Trojans, Scotties and Rockets each qualified for the postseason by finishing in the top three in their respective conferences while the Raiders and Commodores were awarded wild-card berths by the WPIAL.
All five will be in action with 7 p.m. kickoffs on Friday.
Southmoreland, also under a first-year head coach in Dustin Shoaf, finished the regular season with a 9-1 overall record and second in the Interstate Conference behind No. 4 Elizabeth Forward.
The Scotties were seeded seventh. They and California are the only local teams who will have home games. Southmoreland hosts No. 10 Hopewell (6-4) which earned a wild-card spot as the fifth-place team in the Western Hills Conference.
Waynesburg, under head coach Joe Kuhns, finished fourth in the Century Conference and was seeded 13th. The Raiders travel to No. 3 South Allegheny (9-1) which wound up in a three-way tie for first place in the Allegheny Conference with Apollo-Ridge and Steel Valley.
Jefferson-Morgan, which finished third in the Tri-County South under coach Shane Ziats, was seeded 13th and will play at No. 4 Laurel (9-1), the Big Seven Conference champion.
California, under coach Ed Woods, is the highest-seeded local team at No. 6 with Frazier slotted at No. 11, which is close to what Battaglini expected.
“We kind of figured we’d be seeded somewhere around there,” said Battaglini, whose team won three of its last four games to solidify its playoff resume.
“That’s been the goal since we got here, let’s be competitive, let’s make the playoffs,” said Battaglini who took over a team that had won a combined four games in the previous four years. “Those kids, their reaction tonight while we were watching the pairings show altogether was awesome to see, just the excitement that they had to gain an extra game and be in the postseason.
“It was very rewarding for them and all the work they’ve put in to try to turn this team around.”