WJPA Sports

Eleven Washington County girls volleyball teams have qualified for the WPIAL playoffs along with a pair of teams from Greene County. The sport was expanded to six classifications by the PIAA, starting with this season. Peters Township is the #1 seed in the 5A bracket. Waynesburg (3A #2), Fort Cherry (2A #2) and Canon-McMillan (6A #5) also earned top 5 seeds. Those teams are joined in the brackets by Trinity (5A #11), Ringgold (4A #10), McGuffey (3a #7), Chartiers-Houston (3A #11) and five more 2A teams: #6 Beth-Center, #9 California, #11 Bentworth, #14 Wash High and #15 Carmichaels.  The first matches for each are listed below with finals set for Peters Township’s AHN Arena. 1A & 6A finals will be on Thursday, Nov. 5. The other four championship matches will be played on Saturday, Nov. 7. Click for WPIAL brackets (once posted).

Monday, Oct. 26 (First Round)
#2 Fort Cherry hosting #15 Carmichaels, 7 pm
#6 Beth-Center hosting #11 Bentworth, 7 pm
#9 California at #8 Springdale, 7 pm
#14 Wash High at #3 Frazier, 7 pm

Tuesday, Oct. 27 (First Round)
4A #10 Ringgold at #7 Knoch, 7 pm
3A #2 Waynesburg hosting #15 Quaker Valley, 7 pm
3A #7 McGuffey hosting #10 South Allegheny, 7 pm
3A #11 Chartiers-Houston at #6 Burrell, 7 pm

Tuesday, Oct. 27 (Quarterfinals)
6A #5 Canon-McMillan at #4 Baldwin, 7 pm

Wednesday, Oct. 28 (First Round)
5A #1 Peters Township hosting #16 North Hills/#17 Montour winner, 7 pm.
5A #11 Trinity at #6 Chartiers Valley, 7 pm

Big school football takes the spotlight tonight on the WJPA Sports Network. Our radio games highlight the 5A Allegheny Six matchups for Trinity and Peters Township. The Hillers host West Allegheny, both trying to keep control of their own playoff destiny. That game airs on WJPA-FM (95.3). Peters Township crosses the border into Allegheny County, the defending WPIAL champions taking on Bethel Park on WJPA-AM (1450).  Canon-McMillan gets their regular-season look at the juggernaut that is Central Catholic. We’ll have coverage on wjpa.com.  All three games will be available on the WJPA Sports Network. Pregame coverage starts at 6:30 pm with kickoff at 7. Watch/Listen Here!

Ringgold, just two years removed from a 20+ game losing streak, heads to Chartiers Valley with a chance to lock up a 4A playoff berth. Waynesburg has its post-season invite in hand but the Raiders get a good measure, hosting Interstate co-leader Belle Vernon. Waynesburg is still alive for a share of the title. Chartiers-Houston hosts Bishop Canevin, the Bucs trying to stay within one game of first place in the 2A Century. McGuffey, who snapped a 20-game losing streak in Week 1, hosts Carlynton. A Highlanders’ win would be their 5th of the season, almost certainly enough to get at least a wild card invitation. Wash High and Fort Cherry have tune-up games one week ahead of their expected Black Hills championship showdown. Bentworth hosts Monessen, the Bearcats trying to stay in control of their playoff path. Avella is just one game back of Tri-County South co-leaders Beth-Center and California. Having lost earlier this year to B-C, the Eagles host California. Beth-Center and California meet in Fredericktown next week, to decide the conference title, barring an Avella upset. Burgettstown celebrates homecoming Saturday against Serra Catholic, a week ahead of hosting a playoff qualifier at Hill Memorial Stadium.

Week 9 Schedule (Friday, 7:00 pm unless noted)
6A Quad County
Central Catholic at Canon-McMillan, 6:30 pm, WJPA.com Watch/Listen Here

5A Allegheny Six
West Allegheny at Trinity, 6:30 pm, WJPA-FM (95.3) Watch/Listen Here
Peters Township at Bethel Park, 6:30 pm, WJPA-AM (1450) Watch/Listen Here

4A Big Six
Ringgold at Chartiers Valley

3A Interstate
Belle Vernon at Waynesburg

2A Century
Bishop Canevin at Chartiers-Houston
Carlynton at McGuffey

1A Black Hills
Sto-Rox at Wash High
Brentwood at Fort Cherry
Monessen @ Bentworth

1A Tri-County South
California at Avella
Beth-Center at Mapletown
Carmichaels at Jeff-Morgan
Frazier at West Greene

Non-Conference
Charleroi at Quaker Valley
Saturday, 1:30 pm
Serra Catholic at Burgettstown

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh’s Arturs Silovs stopped 25 shots to pick up his fourth career shutout as the Penguins topped Florida 4-0. The victory snapped a four-game losing streak for the Penguins. Silovs’ performance spoiled the debut of Florida’s Cooper Black, who became the tallest goalie in NHL history at 6-foot-9. Black made 18 saves, but the Panthers dropped their second game in two nights. Nick Robertson scored twice for Pittsburgh, while Hendrix Lapierre and Evgeni Malkin each add a goal and an assist.

CHICAGO (AP) — Caleb Williams threw for 308 yards and two touchdowns, and the Chicago Bears cooled off Drake Maye and the New England Patriots with a 30-24 win. Williams was 22-for-33 passing in his second game back after being sidelined by a right hamstring injury. He became the first Bears quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards in consecutive games since Mitch Trubisky had a three-game run in 2018. Williams outdueled Maye in their second meeting since the longtime friends were part of the 2024 NFL Draft. Williams went No. 1 overall to Chicago, and Maye was selected by New England at No. 3.

PARIS (AP) — The New Orleans Saints have a lot riding on their showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers at Stade de France on Sunday. The Saints are the “home” team, have been here all week and have tried to enlist fans ahead of the historic event, the first NFL game in France. Plus, they need a win. The Saints (2-4) responded to criticism from team owner Gayle Benson by beating the New York Giants 34-27 to halt a three-game skid, even though they nearly blew a late lead. They’d love to go into their bye week on back-to-back victories.