West Greene denied home playoff game, seeded 9th
Three Greene County football teams qualified for the WPIAL playoffs but all three will face tough road tests in the first round on Friday night.
In Class 2A, Waynesburg Central (7-3), making its first playoff appearance since 2014, was seeded 13th out of 14 teams and will play No. 4 Imani Christian (7-2) at UPMC Graham Field.
In Class 1A, West Greene (8-2) was seeded ninth and must travel to Plum High School where it will face No. 8 Greensburg Central Catholic (7-3), and Jefferson-Morgan (6-4), in the playoffs for the first time in 11 years, goes to No. 2 Fort Cherry (10-0).
All three games kick off at 7 p.m.
West Greene was thought to have earned a home game as a second-place team in the Tri-County South Conference but that rule was changed by the WPIAL with only conference champions assured to host a first-round game.
Still, the Pioneers, at 8-2 overall and 6-1 in the TCS behind first-place California, seemed to be worthy of at least a top-eight seed. The WPIAL not only denied West Greene a home playoff game but also is forcing it to play a team that鈥檚 already beaten it this season.
The Centurions handed West Greene one of its only two losses on Sept. 8, 48-30. In most cases, the WPIAL tries to avoid rematches in first-round games. Not in West Greene鈥檚 case, however.
The Pioneers reached the Class 1A semifinals 2019 and haven鈥檛 missed the postseason since 2016, but still were shunned by the WPIAL pairings committee.
鈥淲e were expecting to get the eight seed,鈥� West Greene first-year coach Beau Jackson said. 鈥淲e were pretty disappointed to lose out on a home game.
鈥淏ut, regardless, we鈥檒l play anybody, anywhere. We鈥檙e just trying to make the best of each opportunity.鈥�
The Pioneers feature two 1,000-yard rushers but their top runner, senior Colin Brady, has missed the last two games due to injury and his status for Friday is unknown. If he can鈥檛 go, Billy Whitlatch, West Greene鈥檚 other 1,000-yard rusher, would step in for Brady as he has done previously.
Jefferson-Morgan, which was third in the TCS, has made great strides in two years under coach Shane Ziats but faces a monumental challenge in the Fort Cherry and star Matt Sieg.
鈥淭he kids did well to get us into the playoffs for the first time in 11 years,鈥� Ziats said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e excited to be there. We鈥檙e going in the right direction. Last year we were 4-6, this year we鈥檙e 6-4. We鈥檝e still got a ways to go, still changing the culture and getting people to buy in and do things the right way. We鈥檙e getting there, and making the playoffs is a nice stepping stone.鈥�
Ziats is well aware of how good the Rangers are.
鈥淔ort Cherry is a tough team,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e got a solid line. Their quarterback is tremendous. As far as being 15, the Tri-County South hasn鈥檛 won much in the playoffs and until we change that we鈥檙e not going to get much respect from the WPIAL.鈥�