The final word on USC's seeding

Colin Dunlap | 6:55 p.m. Tuesday, October 28

Of his Upper St. Clair team's No. 14 seed in the WPIAL Class AAAA playoffs, where they will inexplicably now face McKeesport in the first round, Jim Render said: "..... to drop us to 14th this year, there has to be a lot of vindictiveness with [the WPIAL]. For whatever reason, I don't know."

Well, Jim, I can't said I disagree with you.

By now, everyone knows this story about how the Panthers finished the season at 6-3, but were seeded No. 14 at last night's WPIAL football pairings meeting, even as they beat two teams (Pine-Richland and Penn-Trafford) who are seeded above them. On top of that, Fox Chapel (which has a losing record) has lost three consecutive games headed into the playoffs and the Foxes are also seeded higher that USC.

Now to my point, and it is a simple scenario I would like all of you to ponder:

If Upper St. Clair would have won just two games this season, Great Southern Conference games against Mt. Lebanon and Baldwin, it would seem entirely possible the Panthers would be seeded exactly where they are now, at No. 14.

So, that said, what does it say about those four other wins? Do they mean virtually nothing to the WPIAL football committee?

Just something to think about.