***UPDATE*** Class A, AA, AAA, AAAA Brackets complete.
P.I.A.A. Class A Final Clairton Bears vs Riverside Vikings Friday, December 17 @2pm
P.I.A.A. Class AAA Final Bishop McDevitt Crusaders vs Allentown Central Catholic Vikings Friday, December 17 @ 7pm
P.I.A.A. Class AA Final South Fayette Lions vs West Catholic Burrs Saturday, December 18 @ 12pm
P.I.A.A. Class AAAA Final North Allegheny Tigers vs LaSalle Explorers Saturday, December 18 @ 5pm
Note: The following teams will be on the HOME side of HersheyPark Stadium: Clairton, West Catholic, Allentown Central Catholic, North Allegheny
Note: The following teams will be on the AWAY side of HersheyPark Stadium: Riverside, South Fayette, Bishop McDevitt, LaSalle
Stadium Aerial Links have been added for each game. Click on each blue Stadium Aerial for a photo of the host stadium. A special thank you goes out to everyone that has helped with this project. Good luck to all teams in their quest for a PIAA State Championship. Any questions, comments or corrections please email Jeremy
Here are the direct links to each bracket.
480 Responses
Buddy, can’t remember 6 ABC ever televising D1 playoff games!
Nothing on their website.
Rick, you are right, the West game was close but Magarity was hurt and it was before the coaching staff figured out that Forster was a better option than a sophomore quarterback. And La Salle’s defense dominated West’s “speedy” offense, that was no contest.
Riverside babbyyyy
Does any one know if 6abc.com is televising any of the games this Friday nite? They used to do that on occasion. It would probaly be Nesh/Rustin or NP/CRS.
@Deo7, every kid who goes to a private HS has parents who pay tuition in addition to their real estate taxes.
@Ed, I just added the 4A eastern semifinal information to the bracket. LaSalle will play the Easton/Whitehall winner Saturday, December 4th @ Northeast 1pm kickoff
Len, I really didn’t believe you about non resident tuition students so I went to the west york area school district site and sure enough they accept non resident tuition students and did you compete in the piaa. it maybe legal but in practice who would wanna pay tuition in addition to their real state school tax ?
IN ADDITION TO YOUR OUTSIDE LB’S MUST BE SPEEDY AND FLOW WELL AGAINST THE THAT ZONE BLOCKING SCHEME
Ed I guess the 14-7 win over West Catholic wouldn’t qualify as a tough game.Other than the only game they lost this year show me a closer score on their record. FOR THE RECORD LASALLE DOESN’T HAVE A PROBLEM VERSUS POWER,SPEED GIVES THEM FITS… YOU MUST GET IN THE RECEIVERS FACE AND PUT PRESSURE ON THE QB
GoldenKnights…With all due respect I would bet my last dollar that a Jersey kid never attended La Salle it is just not reasonable unless of course they have a helicopter. As for St Joe’s Prep which is in the heart of North Philly they would have to close down as I don’t think the neighborhood families could afford the 15k or more tuition and they were weak the last few years…Why? Philly public schools already have open enrollment really. As i said in a previous post I know someone who attends West York Area High School as a non resident tuition student and they say they accept tuition students right on their web site so that is no different than the Diocese of Philadelphia Schools. And finally I listed 20 some years of tried and proven numbers of state champions and most of any district by far is District 7 (28 state champions – Catholic schools in district 7 won it only 3 of those 28). As for Philly Catholic in the east they won it one time and if they do have more success it is because eastern pa is weaker than western pa and District 7 for sure. Why are not the Philly public schools doing anything statewide especially in Basketball?
@Highschoolfan, you seem to think you know who has seen certain schools play and who hasn’t.
You made the definitive statement that AW would beat every AAAA team in the state. So, let’s focus on that.
AW beat SJP by one point; check the LaSalle scores against SJP. While you’re at it, check the NPenn – SJP score.
Is AW a very good team who will win AAA; in my estimation, yes. Would they beat EVERY AAAA team in the state as you stated; in my estimation, no they wouldn’t.
By the way, you’re not the only one who has seen AW, LS and NP multiple times.
Meant to say that O’Hara and La Salle were great last year. Unfortunately neither Wood or O’Hara were on La Salle’s schedule this year, and Prep was down. Roman had a lot of talent but the coaching was mediocre at best. The next game will be the toughest they have had since September.
Does anyone know where the game will be between La Salle and the Easton-Whitehall winner? In any event, La Salle is clearly not as talented as last year’s team, and their road in the PCL was not nearly as tough as last year’s. O’Hara and Prep were both great this year and there were no teams like that in the PCL that La Salle played this year. They haven’t really played a tough game since Bergen Catholic. So even though I’d love to see it, it’s going to be tough for them to repeat. Great coaching staff though, they will be prepared
Stan, Philly pub schools may not have open enrollment per say, yet with our wonderful city any student from the hood can go to a school in a more desirable area. Free transportation and lunch to boot. That is why Northeast, Washington, and Lincoln all in prodominently white neighborhoods have a larger percentage of african american students than white students. If you are a pop warner star you go to Washington no matter where in the city you live. Now NE is getting them kids too. Open enrollment? You bet cha!
Wood may be good but acc is better. Nosovitch is the real deal, our linebackers can hold down the best running backs. all i can say is we make big plays and were experienced. Only thing is that if one of our players goes down we might be in trouble cause almost everyone plays both ways. At least we can all agree it will be one hell of a game haha
What are all of your thoughts on the defending state champions in AA going down so early and who do you think will win it all in AA?
Len, your post #129… The Phila Catholic League was not a part of PIAA until 2 years ago ( or maybe 3). So LaSalle, O’Hara, Wood, did not participate in Districts or States prior to then.
So, if you check the “numbers ” going back to when the Phila Catholic League started to participate ( 2-3 years ago) you will find that it is pretty heavily weighted that the Catholic schools are dominating the Eastern bracket. Maybe not winning every class yet, but definitely dominating.
Also, the big boys ( LaSalle, St.Joes Prep, O’hara, Wood ) definitely do get kids from way outside their “normal” territory ( unlike a Public school that can’t do that ). There have been kids going to St.Joes and LaSalle from N.J. hmmmmm.
So, unfortunately, the “big boys” in the Catholic League do have an advantage over the Public Schools. You also see it in Basketball. Not all the Phila Catholic League schools, but the “big boys ” for sure. It must be different out West.
I think a few more years of LaSalle, Prep, O’hara, Wood, and West Catholic dominating , will cause the PIAA to do what Jersey does… 4 Classes for Public schools, 2 classes for Private/Catholic schools.
Oh by the way Northeast High in the Philly public league has around 1700-1800 male enrollment and the school sits in a neighborhood that is 90% Caucasian and the students and especially the athletes (football team is almost 100% African-American)come from all over the city….so hows that working out for them or for that matter any other Philly public league team in ANY sport on the state level?
Archy Wood is winning it all
Stan, a friend of the family has there son enrolled in the West York Area School District as a non-resident tuition student. The school district also advertises this and I believe they are a member school of the PIAA. I don’t know if this link will get you there but you probably can go direct to the district website. I don’t think they would advertise it if it was illegal. But on the other hand you could say North Penn has an unfair advantage as there male enrollment is much larger than most. They had Catholic schools out in western Pa forever and if there was an advantage don’t you think it would show in the results?
http://www.wyasd.k12.pa.us/…/District/Tuition/Tuition%20Application.pdf
Len, I’m going to disagree with your assertion that public schools accept tuition students.Public schools in Pa.do not legally have “open enrollment”. There have been cases when a high school was caught enrolling an ineligible student. There are severe repurcussions when this happens. This is not the case with Catholic schools. While they may argue they do not recruit, open enrollement accomplishes the same result- an unfair advantage. Give North Penn or any other public school the opportunity to enroll any student they want-see want happens then.
Moose
Wood is mostly Juniors as well. I hope we get to see a AW vs ACC matchup in a few weeks. Both teams will have tough games before that for sure. ACC QB is very good but I just cant see ACC’s smaller D line handling the huge Wood O line. Wood will use ball control and muscle their way.
After La Salle won last year I thought I would here the District 1 people applaud them but is all I heard is about how much of an advantage Catholic schools have. So being new to the PIAA I figured Catholic schools were dominating hearing all the whining so I checked the numbers. Since 1988 there have been about 88 state champions across all the classifications and 77 of those champions were public schools so the numbers don’t support any advantage. District 7 holds a distinct advantage for some reason (more competitive football) as it has 28 champions of the 88 and only 3 of them were Catholic schools (Pittsburgh Central 3X). Many public school districts accept tuition students so there is a choice for public school students also. It is ironic that the PIAA was founded in Pittsburg by about 3 private school principals (Pittsburgh Central, Shadyside Academy and Allegheny Prep). Catholic schools are not the reason for the east lack of success…western pa football is especially District 7.
lower moreland would beat west catholic anyway
I’ll take ACC in AAA…nobody better, and they’re mostly juniors.