WPIAL sets schedules for Weeks 1-9
The WPIAL football schedules for all schools in 2020 are set, and a new policy by the league has made for some terrific non-conference matchups in the first few weeks of the season.
How does Thomas Jefferson vs. Gateway sound in Week 1? Or Pine-Richland vs. Central Catholic, and Clairton vs. Washington in following weeks?
Schedules for all 119 WPIAL teams were released Thursday morning for Weeks 1 through 9. Schools can choose an opponent of their own if they decide to play a Week 0 contest.
Unlike previous seasons, the WPIAL scheduled nonconference games and decided to make the matchups based on competitiveness and, at times, geography. In the past, non-conference
games were picked at random.
“I love this. I like change,” Pine-Richlandcoach Eric Kasperowiczsaid.
TheWPIAL also set all nonconference games for the beginning of the season, unlike in the past when they were scattered throughout the season.
Gateway coach Don Holl said: “If you’re building and cultivating your program and living in a culture of competitiveness, you want these type of things. Nobody is wishing they are facing murderers’ row and I don’t think we’re invincible, but who wouldn’t want to compete against the best?”
Pine-Richlandplayed in the past three WPIAL Class 6A championships, but the school’senrollment placed the Rams in Class 5A for the next two seasons. Pine-Richland will still play two Class 6A schools (Seneca Valley and Central Catholic) to open the season. In the next two weeks, Pine-Richlandwill play Upper St. Clair and Gateway, two strongClass 5A teams.
“The matchups were made for competitiveness and also location, when possible,” WPIALassociate executive director Amy Scheuneman said. “Sometimes both fit. Sometimesthey did not.”
One extreme oddity in the WPIAL’s new schedule is that North Allegheny was given two “open” weeks in Week 1 and 2. No other team was given two open weeks to start theseason.
“We had a conversation with North Allegheny and they requested to get their own games in both Week 1 and 2,” Scheuneman said. “Seeinghow they are our largest school and we always hear the comment that nobody wants to play them, we let them get their own games. Them offering to find their own games, allowed us to schedule Week 1 and Week 2 without anyone having an openingin their schedule.”
At a meeting of football coaches and athletic directors a few weeks ago, the WPIAL had a tentative schedule for non-conference games that included PineRichland playing North Allegheny. But when the official schedules came out, the opponent was switched to Seneca Valley.
“Whatever the WPIAL gives us, we’re going to go with,” Kasperowicz said. “I love to keep some of the rivalrieswe had with 6A teams like Seneca Valley and Central Catholic, but I’m extremely disappointed we can’t continue one of our biggest rivalries with North Allegheny. I don’t know why. I know the original schedule had us playing, but that wasn’t the final schedule. Now we’re not playing.”
Kasperowicz said he would like to play North Allegheny in Week Zero. But North Allegheny athletic director Bob Bozzuto said the Tigers already are scheduled to play Allderdice of the City League inWeek 0.
Bozzuto explained why NorthAllegheny doesn’t want to play WPIAL teams in Week 1 and 2. “I don’t want to play 5A schools in our area,” he said. “I don’t think it’s beneficialto 6A teams. I said that last year. We took some aggravation when we played [5A] WestAllegheny.”
Bozzuto went on to say “hopefully we can get two challenging games on our schedule.”
When asked if Pine-Richland and other WPIAL 5A schools would be challenging enough, Bozzuto said: “If they would’ve been in our conference, then we would’ve had to play them. I don’t want to play a 5A local team that’s not in our conference. That’s our rightand our opinion.
“I thought there were other things the WPIAL could’ve done [with conference alignment], but there is no animosity. We just said we’re going to get our own opponents in Week1 and Week 2.”
Gateway was the WPIAL Class 5A champion last year and has an extremely tough non-conference schedule, beginning with a Week 1 game against Thomas Jefferson, a perennial power that finished 16-0 in 2019 and won the WPIAL and PIAA Class 4A championships.
InWeek 2, Gateway renews its rivalry with Penn Hills, then plays plays Bethel Park andPine-Richland.
“We’re excited to have that Penn Hills rivalry back and so is Penn Hills,” Holl said. “There’s a lot of great history in that game and it should’ve been played. Pine-Richland is probably going to be the prohibitive favorite in Class 5A heading into the season. We’ll knowa lot about us early on.”
Here are a few other teams that have interesting non-conference schedules to start the season:
▪ Central Catholic plays PennHills and Pine-Richland.
▪ Upper St. Clair plays Mt. Lebanon, Baldwin, Pine-Richlandand Penn Hills.
▪ Thomas Jefferson plays Gateway, South Fayette and Trinity.
▪ Aliquippa plays Beaver Fallsand Central Valley.
▪ Clairton plays Steel Valley andWashington.
The WPIAL still has to decide on playoff formats and the number of playoff qualifiers from each classification. But that probably won’t happenfor a few months.
The PIAA still must approve brackets for the state playoffs. The PIAA approved new brackets last week, but those brackets must pass two morevotes and those brackets couldchange. The PIAA won’t vote again on the new brackets until a March meeting. Thus, the WPIAL playoff formatlikely won’t be known untilApril.