LH, Uniontown clash; California, B-C battle for TCS crown
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
High school football wraps up the regular season with plenty of interesting match-ups on tap Friday night, including two conference showdowns and a crosstown rivalry.
Uniontown and Laurel Highlands will both be seeking their first Class 4A Big Six Conference win when the two nearby schools clash at Mustang Field.
Both teams are 0-4 in conference play but LH (0-9) is striving for its first victory of the season under first-year coach Ian Edenfield.
Uniontown coach Tim Bukowski would like to see his team snap a four-game losing skid to end its season and a win over its rival would make that scenario even sweeter.
“I think it’s great for the rivalry to play the last week of the season,” Bukowski said. “It has helped keep the players focused on finishing out the season and looking forward to this game.”
The Red Raiders’ last win in the series came in 2013 by a 42-35 score.
“We haven’t beaten them in a long time so we want to try and break that streak,” Bukowski said. “We know that they will be ready to go and so will we.
“It should be a great night for football in Fayette County.”
Conference championships will be decided in the Class 3A Interstate, when Belle Vernon (5-0, 8-1) visits Warrior Stadium to take on perennial power Elizabeth Forward (5-0, 8-1), and in the Tri-County South, where defending champion California (6-0, 7-2) is on the road to take on the area’s lone unbeaten team in Beth-Center (6-0, 9-0).
Another key TCS game has Avella (4-2, 5-4) at Frazier (4-2, 5-4) with the winner earning third place.
“Whoever wins that is in the playoffs,” Eagles coach Ryan Cecchini said. “That’s a guaranteed spot, so we’ve got a lot to play for.”
Avella fell just short up upending the Trojans, falling 24-28 last week.
“Hopefully we can take this performance we had and roll it into next week,” Cecchini said after the loss to California.
The Commodores kept their hopes alive for a third-place finish by scoring late in the fourth quarter for a hard-fought victory at Mapletown.
Albert Gallatin (2-2, 4-5) is still in playoff contention in the Big Six as it travels to Chartiers Valley (3-1, 5-4).
Another meeting of rivals will occur at Russ Grimm Field where Mount Pleasant (2-3, 4-5) takes on host Southmoreland (1-4, 2-7). A win would keep the Vikings in consideration for a Wild Card playoff spot.
In other games involving local teams tonight, Brownsville (0-5, 0-9) is at Charleroi (0-5, 3-6) in the Class 2A Allegheny Conference, Greene County rivals Mapletown (0-6, 0-9) and Carmichaels (2-4, 3-6) meet at Coaches Field and West Greene (1-5, 2-7) and Jefferson-Morgan (1-5, 1-8) meet at Parker Field in the TCS, and playoff-bound Waynesburg Central (7-2) is at Valley (2-7) in a non-conference clash.