WPIAL Boys Quarterfinals Preview / Schedule

Here’s the schedule of the boys games tonight along with some notes for each classification…
 Class AAA QUARTERFINALS – Thursday, October 29
Allderdice (12-2-3) vs Kiski Area (8-9-2), 6 p.m. at Penn Hills
Franklin Regional (11-4-1) vs Fox Chapel (15-1-1), 8 p.m. at Penn Hills
Canon McMillan (15-3) vs Penn Trafford (15-2-1), 8 p.m. at Thomas Jefferson
Seneca Valley (13-1-1) vs Central Catholic (11-5-2), 8 p.m. at Seneca Valley
Class AAA Notes:
Two teams that played in the WPIAL Final last year, Upper St. Clair and Peters Township, were eliminated in the first round.  Of the remaining eight teams, three are from Section 3 (Fox Chapel, Franklin Regional and Kiski Area), two from Section 4 (Allderdice and Central Catholic) and one each from Section 1 (Penn Trafford), Section 2 (Seneca Valley) and Section 5 (Canon McMillan).
The only teams with a true home game remaining is Seneca Valley, which did not play in the first round as they had a bye.
Kiski Area’s  first round upset of North Allegheny was even more remarkable on Monday when you consider that NA beat them 6-1 in both teams’ season opener on September 5.   Allderdice’s OT win over Peters on Monday was the first in the WPIAL.  As a City League member for many years, they did compete against WPIAL teams in the PIAA playoffs.
Fox Chapel’s only loss this season was a 2-1 setback at Franklin Regional, when the teams combined for the game’s three goals in the final 4 minutes of play.  This will be the third time the section rivals will play this year.
Penn Hills will be hosting WPIAL playoff games at their Linton Middle School facility that has one of the rare soccer-only field turf venues.
Class AA QUARTERFINALS – Thursday, October 29
South Fayette (15-3) vs McGuffey (12-6), 6 p.m. at Thomas Jefferson
Mars (16-2-1) vs Montour (13-3-2), 6 p.m. at Seneca Valley
Thomas Jefferson (15-1-1) vs Ringgold (14-5), 8 p.m. at Elizabeth Forward
South Park (17-1-1) vs Ambridge, 8 p.m. at West Allegheny
Class AA Notes:
The top four ranked teams in Class AA remain:  South Fayette, Mars, Thomas Jefferson and South Park.   South Park are the defending champs, and have looked strong, while Mars, the number two seed, needed to go the distance and penalties to beat a feisty Quaker Valley team coached by former Pittsburgh Riverhounds defender Andrew Marshall.
Thomas Jefferson has not lost since September 8 to South Park and are looking like a very dangerous team.  They handed South Park their only loss of the season on Sept. 28, 1-0, and in their last 16 games — include 15 wins and one tie to Elizabeth Forward.
Class AA includes six sections, and has 18 teams that qualify for the playoffs.  All the teams from Section 1 were eliminated, but a few sections still have two teams remaining, including Section 5 (South Fayette and Montour and Section 6 (Ringgold and McGuffey).
Class A QUARTERFINALS – Thursday, October 29
Bishop Canevin vs Avonworth, 6 p.m. at Moon
Seton LaSalle vs OLSH, 6:15 p.m. at West Allegheny
GCC vs Bentworth, 6 p.m. at Elizabeth Forward
Sewickley Academy vs Vincentian Academy, 8 p.m. at Moon
Class A Notes:
Like Class AA, all of the top seeds and usual suspects — Sewickley Academy, Seton LaSalle and Greensburg Central Catholic all remain in the picture.   Sewickely Academy, the number one seed had a first-round bye and will play their first playoff match versus a Vincentian team that knocked off Freedom, 3-1 on Monday as Patrick Banze scored twice.
Last year’s surprising winners of Class A  — Winchester Thurston — were eliminated from the playoffs on Monday by Bentworth, as Chad Gurdish scored twice.
Mark Thalman, Riley Slike and Josh Nelson all had two goals each in GCC’s 7-1 rout of Monessen on Monday.