WJPA Sports

Yoda told Luke Skywalker, “Do or do not. There is no try.” The Stars Wars Jedi Master could have been talking about tonight’s high school football schedule around the area. Conference championships will be going to some winners, WPIAL automatic playoff bids others. Some victors will lock up home playoff games. And, for many teams on the wrong side of the ledger, tonight will bring the end of the road with no playoffs. Then, there are the teams who will find it hard to sleep tonight. No, not because Santa Claus is coming, but rather because they’ll have to wait to for the football committee to announce its wild card selections sometime Saturday afternoon.

Fort Cherry / Wash High play for the Black Hills title while Beth-Center hosts California with the Tri-County South crown going to that winner. The list of win-and-you’re-in games include Chartiers-Houston at McGuffey. And, while Canon-McMillan already has a playoff berth in-hand, the Big Macs need to win to keep alive hopes of hosting their 6A semifinal game in two weeks. All four of these games will be available on the WJPA Sports Network. Pregame coverage starts at 6:30 pm with kickoff at 7. Watch/Listen Here!

Avella at Frazier and Peters Township at Thomas Jefferson are both win-and-you’re-in games.  Ringgold has a shot at the section championship but isn’t guaranteed a playoff spot even with a win. Burgettstown clinches a berth with a win. Trinity is in the 5A wild card bubble but has to win to stay there. Bentworth gets in the 1A bubble with a win and is almost certainly out with a loss. And Waynesburg has a non-conference game, a chance to get rested and healthy before starting the 3A playoffs next weekend. The Raiders will be the only Greene County team to make the post-season.

Week 10 Schedule (7:00 pm unless noted):
1A Black Hills
Fort Cherry at Wash High, 6:30 pm, WJPA-FM (95.3)  Watch/Listen Here
Bentworth at Burgettstown

1A Tri-County South
California at Avella, 6:30 pm,WJPA.com Watch/Listen Here
Avella at Frazier
Mapletown at Carmichaels
West Greene at Jeff-Morgan

2A Century
Chartiers-Houston at McGuffey, 6:30 pm, WJPA-AM (1450)  Watch/Listen Here

2A Allegheny
Brownsville at Charleroi

4A Big Six
South Fayette at Ringgold

5A Allegheny Six
Peters Township at Thomas Jefferson
Trinity at Bethel Park

6A Quad County
Canon-McMillan at Mt. Lebanon, 6:30 pm, WJPA.com Watch/Listen Here

Non-Conference
Waynesburg at Valley

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Logan Cooley completed a hat trick against his hometown team with a second left, Mikhail Sergachev scored at 3:27 of overtime and the Utah Mammoth stunned the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 on Thursday night. After Ben Kindel put Pittsburgh ahead 3-2 with 25 seconds left, Cooley — playing his third NHL game in Pittsburgh — batted the puck in from the left side of the net for sixth goal in four games and seventh of the season. Cooley became the third Pittsburgh native with a hat trick against the Penguins, joining Brandon Saad and R.J. Umberger. At age 5, Cooley took part in Sidney Crosby’s first Little Penguins Learn to Play Hockey program. Cooley scored for the first time in seven games against Pittsburgh.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Jordan Love threw three touchdown passes, Josh Jacobs scored twice and the Green Bay Packers withstood three turnovers to defeat the Carolina Panthers 27-19 on Thursday night. Love went 30 of 41 for 288 yards with touchdown passes to Tucker Kraft, Matthew Golden and Jacobs plus an interception. Jacobs scored on a 4-yard catch and 1-yard run. Jacobs rushed for only 39 yards on 21 carries against the NFL’s lowest-ranked run defense. Green Bay’s Christian Watson returned to the game after getting taken to the hospital with a chest injury.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers are both 5-2 heading into a showdown for the lead in the AFC North. Cleveland beat Pittsburgh at home on Oct. 1, and now will try to win at Acrisure Stadium for only the third time since it opened in 2001. The Browns haven’t been flashy, but they have been clutch. All five of Cleveland’s victories have come on late scoring drives led by quarterback Deshaun Watson. The Steelers have responded to their road loss to the Browns by ripping off three straight victories. A win would send Pittsburgh into its bye week with momentum, while the Browns could improve to 6-2 for the first time since 1994.