Coach Kelly’s final WPIAL boys soccer rankings

We are on the brink of the release of the WPIAL playoff brackets, so here’s a perfect time to take one last look at the teams that will be competing for the coveted WPIAL title in four classifications.

Here’s my best attempt at the final rankings, as the WPIAL committee will finalize the brackets on Wednesday. We’ll be bringing you all of the brackets here on Pittsburgh Soccer Now as they’re revealed.

In all four classes, section winners are at the top of their respective bracket, and here’s how I see things.

CLASS 4A

Norwin is the team who deserves the bye over Fox Chapel and Canon-McMillan based on overall record and Norwin’s key win over Seneca Valley early in the season at Chartiers Valley on 8/31.  Class AAAA is very difficult to award the 4th seed a bye as there are only three sections, it would make more sense to take five teams per section with the top seed with the only first round bye.

1 Plum

2 Mt Lebanon

3 Seneca Valley

4 Norwin

5 Fox Chapel

6 Canon-McMillan

7 Butler

8 Upper St. Clair

9 North Allegheny

10 Connellsville

11 Woodland Hills

12 Baldwin

CLASS 3A

It was difficult to keep South Fayette out of the top 4 seeds – as they are very deserving – but in sticking with the section winners that’s why they are at 5.

1 Franklin Regional

2 Mars

3 Moon

4 Belle Vernon

5 South Fayette

6 West Allegheny

7 Hampton

8 Trinity

9 Blackhawk

10 Thomas Jefferson

11 Kiski Area

12 Ringgold

13 Chartiers Valley

14 Laurel Highlands

15 Ambridge

16 Indiana

Class 2A

This was fairly straight forward based on records/key wins. It was tough to place North Catholic and Shady Side outside of the top four.

1 Quaker Valley

2 Deer Lakes

3 Charleroi

4 South Park

5 North Catholic

6 Shady Side Academy

7 Keystone Oaks

8 Freeport

9 Waynesburg

10 Freedom

11 Elizabeth Forward

12 Burrell

13 Southmoreland

14 Steel Valley

15 Central Valley

16 Beth Center

Class 1A

This one was very difficult to decipher the top-four, top-six, or even top-eight with two sections having teams that shared section crowns.  The order doesn’t necessarily matter as there is a lot of parity in the top seven or eight teams, its really up in the air.

1 Winchester Thurston

2 Greensburg Central Catholic

3 Carlynton

4 Springdale

5 Riverside

6 Seton LaSalle

7 Avonworth

8 Brentwood

9 Our Lady of Sacred Heart

10 Chartiers Houston

11 Sewickley Academy

12 Trinity Christian

13 Bishop Canevin

14 Serra Catholic

15 Riverview

16 Beaver County Chirstian/Mohawk

We’ll see how the brackets come out tomorrow, and we look forward to predicting the four 2019 WPIAL champions.