Details: Aliquippa (9-2) vs. Shady Side Academy (11-0), 7:30 p.m., Friday, Seneca Valley, WPIAL Class AA semifinal ... winner meets either Beaver Falls (11-0) or Jeannette (10-1) in the championship game Nov. 22 at Heinz Field.
History: Aliquippa’s most recent WPIAL title was in 2003, and the Quips returned to the title game again in 2004 ... Shady Side won the championship in 1998 and has not returned to the title game ... Both teams were bumped from the 2007 playoffs by eventual champion Jeannette ... The Quips lost, 70-48, to the Jayhawks in the semifinals, and the Indians lost, 42-6, in the quarterfinals.
More recent history: Maurice Carter rushed for 169 yards and three TDs in a 32-14 win over Greensburg Central Catholic in the quarterfinals ... Roman SanDoval rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown in Shady Side’s 28-14 quarterfinal victory over Center.
Series: The Quips hold a 2-0 all-time edge over Shady Side, collecting a 25-0 victory in 1917 and a 45-13 win in the 2000 Class AA quarterfinals .... Josh Lay tossed a touchdown pass in the 2000 game, and Jon LeDonne returned an interception for a TD, as the Quips scored 24 points in the first quarter and led 37-7 at halftime.
Blast from the pass: Shady Side coach Dave Havern, a Montour graduate, played quarterback at Pitt and held the Panthers’ career passing record until Dan Marino arrived ... Havern served as quarterbacks coach at Central Catholic when Mark Bulger, now with the St. Louis Rams, played.
Offense to defense: While Havern has an offensive background, his 2008 team has moved defense to the foreground. The Indians have seven shutouts. They have played five Class AA playoff teams, and kept four of them from scoring a touchdown. Shady Side shut out Freeport, Ford City and Canevin and limited Valley to a field goal ... In its past six games, Shady Side has allowed one rushing TD (to Center’s Chris Kimbrough, 57 yards) and one passing TD (from Center’s Preston Dawson to Damon Cotton, 6 yards).
Offense through defense: The Quips have averaged 35.6 points per game in the WPIAL playoffs over the past two seasons.
Run to daylight: While Havern has a passing background, Shady Side prefers to run. Both SanDoval and Brian Nickel have rushed for more than 1,000 yards ... Carter is a 1,000-yard rusher for the Quips and has three consecutive 100-yard games. Terry Patrick has five 100-yard games and 854 yards total.
Diversity creates adversity: Both Aliquippa and Shady Side have had passing touchdowns and 100-yard rushers in both of their playoff wins ... Carter has run for more than 100 in both games, and Rasheem Jones has thrown a TD pass in each game ... SanDoval has run for 100 in each game, and Billy Nickel has thrown a TD pass in each game.
Prime-time passer: Jones has thrown eight touchdown passes in five career playoff games, including at least one in each game.
Where’s J.B.?: A year ago, with Jonathan Baldwin as a primary target, Jones passed for 1,500 yards (125 per game) and 16 touchdowns ... This season, with Baldwin catching passes at Pitt, Jones has passed for 614 yards (55.8 per game) and six touchdowns.
Details: Beaver Falls (11-0) vs. Jeannette (10-1), 7:30 p.m., Friday, Pine-Richland, WPIAL Class AA semifinal ... winner meets either Aliquippa (9-2) or Shady Side Academy (11-0) in the championship game Nov. 22 at Heinz Field.
History: Jeannette is the reigning PIAA and WPIAL AA champion. The Jayhawks defeated Beaver Falls 61-12 in the WPIAL title game ... Beaver Falls last won a WPIAL title in 1984, and made title game appearances in 2001 and 2007
More history: Jeannette defeated Beaver Falls, 82-68, in the 2008 WPIAL AA basketball championship.
More recent history: Admire Carter scored three touchdowns (one rushing, two receiving) to lead Beaver Falls to a 42-21 semifinal victory over Ford City ... Cameron Baradziej passed for two touchdowns and rushed for a touchdown as Jeannette defeated Beaver, 57-28, in the semifinals.
Streaks: The Jayhawks have won 10 consecutive WPIAL playoff games by an average margin of 25.9 points. They’ve won their past six WPIAL playoff games by an average margin of 36.1 points ... The Tigers have won 19 of their past 20 games, losing only to Jeannette ... The Jayhawks have won 34 of their past 35 against WPIAL opponents, losing only to Greensburg Central Catholic on Oct. 25.
Conference call: Teams from the Midwestern Athletic Conference have a 6-2 record in the 2008 playoffs; teams from the Interstate Conference are 3-3 ... The Tigers have four wins against teams that have won at least one playoff game (Aliquippa, Beaver, Center, Ford City). The Jayhawks have one win over a team that has won at least one playoff game (Beaver).
Who’s left?: Quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who threw two touchdown passes and rushed for a touchdown in the first seven minutes against Beaver Falls a year ago, has moved on to Ohio State, but running back Jordan Hall remains. Also an Ohio State recruit, Hall had 125 yards rushing/receiving and three touchdowns against the Tigers a year ago. Against Beaver, Hall had two rushing touchdowns and returned a fumble 47 yards for a touchdown.
Milestone: Todd Thomas needs 86 yards to reach 4,000 total offensive yards for his career. Running backs are celebrated when they reach 4,000 yards rushing, but Thomas has taken a more diverse route: 2,684 yards rushing, 1,173 yards receiving, 57 yards passing, 3,914 total ... Thomas carried 11 times for 18 yards, and had no receptions, against Jeannette a year ago. He returned a kickoff for a touchdown, and completed an 11-yard pass.
Passing lane: Baradziej completed eight of 12 passes for 191 yards against Beaver ... The Tigers have allowed both playoff opponents to pass for more than 100 yards.
Road map: David Miller of Greensburg Central rushed for 164 yards against Jeannette in the Centurions’ 28-14 victory on Oct. 25 ... Jake Nardone of Beaver rushed for 161 yards against the Jayhawks a week ago ... Cody Cook has seven 100-yard rushing games for the Tigers, and Thomas had three 100-yard games.
— Staff reports
Details: Blackhawk (10-1) vs. Highlands (11-0), 7:30 p.m., Friday, Pine-Richland, WPIAL Class AAA semifinal … winner meets either Thomas Jefferson (10-1) or New Castle (8-3) in the championship game Nov. 22 at Heinz Field.
History: Blackhawk last won a WPIAL title in 1996 and reached the title game in 2006 ... The Cougars lost to Highlands, 20-19, in the first-round of the 2007 playoffs … Highlands has never won a WPIAL title but Har-Brack, involved in the Highlands merger, shared a title after a 0-0 AAA championship game with Donora in 1953. Cookie Gilchrist, who became a 1,000-yard rusher for the Buffalo Bills in the AFL, led Har-Brack ... In 2007, Highlands lost 28-7 to Knoch in the 2007 quarterfinals.
A year ago: Quarterback Jeff Sinclair rushed 1 yard for a touchdown with 42.5 seconds remaining to lift Highlands to the come-from-behind victory at Blackhawk ... Sinclair rushed for two touchdowns, passed for 131 yards and a touchdown, and caught a pass ... Phil Hochevar, a 2008 graduated, scored a rushing touchdown to put Blackhawk ahead 19-15 with 4:03 remaining ... Zack Hayward, now a senior, completed 12 of 16 passes for 196 yards ... Bryan Stefanik, now a senior, rushed 13 yards for the game’s first touchdown, but finished with 40 yards on 14 carries.
More recent history: Hayward completed 9 of 10 passes for 157 yards and threetouchdowns as Blackhawk defeated Mars 42-7 in the quarterfinal … Sinclair rushed for 146 yards and four touchdowns, and completed a touchdown pass, as Highlands defeated Montour 35-34 in an overtime playoff game.
Drama kings: Montour inspired dramatic finishes from both Blackhawk and Highlands ... The Cougars trailed the Spartans 21-3 in the first half, and 28-10 in the second, before rallying to score the game-winning touchdown in the final minute. Hayward’s 19-yard pass to Jake Delmonico secured the 31-28 victory ... Highlands led the Spartans 20-0, but Montour, with backup QB Phil Peckich throwing two touchdown passes, rallied to create a 28-28 tie. In overtime, Sinclair scored a rushing touchdown and the Rams converted the extra point. Montour scored a touchdown, but failed in its attempt to go for two points and the win.
Surging: Highlands has averaged 40 points per game over the past four weeks after averaging 23 points per game through the first seven weeks.
Bryan’s song: The Cougars are 7-0 in games in which Stefanik rushes for 100 yards this year, and 11-0 over the past two seasons ... He has averaged 154 yards per game over the past four games, collecting at least 117 in each game
Six times six: Over the past five games, Hayward has thrown 13 passes and found six receivers in the end zone. Mike Pearson has caught four touchdown passes in that span, while Austin Wulf and Delmonico have each collected three. Stefanik, Chuck Lipp and Matt Engle have also caught scoring passes.