Playoff clinchings

The final Friday night of the regular season brought a few surprises, and one game with plenty of playoff implications got postponed until tomorrow (Trinity vs. Ringgold) because of a water main break.

Things fell right for Blackhawk to get into the playoffs. Altoona also is in as a wild-card team. Even though Hollidaysburg lost, Hollidaysburg still got in. A few other noteworthy things were Clairton stretching its winning streak to 56 games, which ties Braddock for the longest "unbeaten" streak in WPIAL history. Braddock had a 56-game unbeaten streak in the 1950s. This is different than a winning streak because Braddock had a tie in the streak. Clairton already owns the longest winning streak in WPIAL history.

Anyway, who said anything about playoffs? I did. Here is the playoff picture:

In Class AAAA and AAA, the top five teams in each conference qualify, as well as one sixth-place “wild-card” team. In Class AA and A, the top four teams from each conference qualify. The WPIAL will announce playoff pairings Monday night.

CLASS AAAA
Foothills Conference – 1. Gateway. 2. Penn-Trafford. 3. McKeesport. 4. Hempfield. 5. Kiski Area. 6. Altoona (wild-card team).
Northern Eight – 1. North Allegheny. 2. Seneca Valley. 3. Central Catholic. 4. North Hills. 5. Butler.
Southeastern – 1. Upper St. Clair. 2. Mt. Lebanon . 3. Woodland Hills. 4. Bethel Park. 5. Peters Township.
(The three second-place finishers, plus Woodland Hills and McKeesport, will have home games in the first round).

CLASS AAA
Big Nine – 1. Thomas Jefferson. 2. West Mifflin. …. Elizabeth Forward, Ringgold, Trinity and Belle Vernon have all clinched playoff spots. The Trinity-Ringgold game was postponed Friday night until today because of a water main break. The outcome of that game will determine places. The sixth-place wild-card team will come out of this conference.
Greater Allegheny – 1. Mars. 2. Hampton. 3. Franklin Regional. 4. Knoch. 5. Hollidaysburg.
Parkway – 1. Central Valley. 2. West Allegheny. 3. Montour. 4. Hopewell. 5. Blackhawk.
(The three second-place finishers, plus Franklin Regional and Montour, will have home games in the first round.

CLASS AA
Allegheny – 1. Freeport. 2. Burrell. 3. Shady Side Academy. 4. Valley.
Century – 1. South Fayette. 2. Seton-LaSalle. 3. South Allegheny. 4. Steel Valley.
Interstate – 1. Washington. 2. Jeannette. 3. Mount Pleasant. 4. Greensburg Central Catholic.
Midwestern – 1. Aliquippa. 2. Beaver. 3. Beaver Falls. 4. Freedom.

CLASS A
Big Seven – 1. Sto-Rox. 2. Rochester. 3. Neshannock. 4. Union.
Black Hills – 1. Clairton. 2. Monessen. 3. Brentwood. 4. Bishop Canevin.
Eastern – 1. North Catholic. 2. Springdale. 3. Apollo-Ridge. 4. Avonworth.
Tri-County South – 1. Beth-Center. 2. Jefferson-Morgan. 3. Carmichaels. 4. Frazier.