PIAA to Consider 6 Classifications

The PIAA is considering expanding to 6 classifications for high school football starting in the 2010-11 season. I’m sure if football goes to 6 classes then basketball, soccer, volleyball and the rest would add classes too. This would surely not be in the best interests of the local high schools. While it’s hard to say who would be where enrollment wise, it’s safe to say Freeport, Ford City, Kittanning, and West Shamokin would not all be in the same classification. I think it going to be a hard sell, since the change would add travel, and hurt gate receipts. Would the WPIAL spilt, would local schools create a new athletic district, or leave the PIAA all together. I don’t know, but I do know six classes would not be welcomed by local football fans.

PIAA Football Playoffs: WPIAL Teams Advance to Semis

All four WPIAL Football teams have reached the PIAA state Semifinals.

Here is their Semifinal Schedules:

AAAA - Bethel Park vs. West Lawn Wilson @ State College H.S. - 1:00pm Saturday.
AAA - TJ vs. West York @ Altoona - 7:00pm Friday
AA - Aliquippa vs. Wilmington @ Center H.S. - 7:00pm Friday
A - Clairton vs Farrell @ North Allegheny H.S. - 7:00pm Friday

2008 WPIAL Football Champions

AAAA - Bethel Park
AAA - Thomas Jefferson
AA - Aliquippa
A - Clairton

WPIAL Football Championship

You could drive from Kittanning to the WPIAL Championship Games at HeinzField quicker than you could to any participating high school. Actually no school north of Pittsburgh is playing for a WPIAL title, including no A-K Valley team, though Highlands was close. Back in 1989, Freeport was the last school from Armstrong County to a WPIAL Title Game. Of this year’s eight participates, only Bethel Park (1980) has not appeared in a championship game within last 10 years. You have to be at least 42 years old have to seen Leechburg win Armstrong County’s last WPIAL Football title. One has to wonder how many times this year a group will host the trophy, before we will see one of our own.

2008 WPIAL Football Championships

The WPIAL Football Championships are set.

AAAA - Gateway (12-0) vs. Bethel Park (12-0)

AAA - Thomas Jefferson (11-1) vs. Blackhawk (11-1)

AA - Beaver Falls (12-0) vs. Aliquippa (10-2)

A - Clairton (12-0) vs. Monaca (11-1)

All games will be at Heinz Field on Saturday November 22nd, starting with "A" at 11am.

Vote for the WPIAL Champions Here!

WPIAL Football Playoffs Update

Beaver Falls 42 - Ford City 21

The 2008 WPIAL Football Semifinals are set.

In AAAA – It’s Gateway, Bethel Park, McKeesport, and #5 seed Penn Hills who are on quite a roll now.

In AAA it’s the usual TJ, Blackhawk, joined by Highlands and this year’s surprise squad New Castle.

In AA we’ll have a rematch of last year’s final when Beaver Falls takes on Jeanette. Also Aliquippa after a big upset of GCC will face Shady Side Academy

In single A it’s the top four seeds Clairton, Avonworth, Monaca, and Rochester all advancing.

You can vote on who will make it to Heinz Field

Ford City vs. Beaver Falls Preview

Ford City Football is again trying to reach the WPIAL title game at Heinz Field. One of these years everything is going to fall into place, and this could be the year. However other than a few die-hard Saber fans, optimism isn’t very high. As of press time 73% of voters on RizzoSports.com favor top seed Beaver Falls, but I’ll try give hope to the masses headed to the game. Ford City’s secondary is strong enough to allow the rest of the team to focus on stopping the run. The Sabers should have enough experience in key positions to slow the pace of the game. Beaver Falls’ defense is good, not great. The Sabers will score, but FC must be within 7 by half. Also if Saber can find a way to keep Beaver Falls starting inside their own 30, anything can happen.

Beaver Falls Football 2008

Ford City's WPIAL Playoff opponent this week is Beaver Falls.

Here are a couple video clips from Tiger games this season.

Ford City vs. Beaver Falls @ Seneca Valley

Ford City will have to travel to Seneca Valley High School to face Beaver Falls in the second round of the WPIAL football playoffs on Friday night.

Located on:
128 Seneca Road, in Harmony, Pa

2008 WPIAL Football Playoff Favorites

According to voting on RizzoSports.com, the fans' favorites as of noon Friday are:

AAAA - Gateway 41%
AAA - TJ 44%, Highlands 21%
AA - GCC 27%, Beaver Falls 27%
A - Clairton 44%

Thanks to fans who have voted over 400 times since Monday.

Don't forget to vote, and remember next week we'll be voting on games.

Dion Wiegand is coming to Ford City

Keystone Oaks running back Dion Wiegand, leads the Eagles into battle against the Sabers Friday night. I don't know who he is, but he's got a lot of videos, it will be very interesting to see what he does against the FC defense.

2008 Rushing Stats: 1197 yards, 20 TDs, 6.92 yards per carry

@ Yahoo! Video

Ford City / Freeport Football Playoffs 2008

Round 1

Keystone Oaks @ Ford City

Freeport @ Greensburg Catholic

Who do you think will win the WPIAL Championships

....more WPIAL Playoff talk tomorrow 7:30 live on FLTV or www.familylifetv.com

2008 WPIAL Playoff Preview

2008 WPIAL Football Playoffs



Vote on the playoffs!!!

2008 WPIAL Playoffs

First off, the WPIAL Football Playoff Pairings come out on Monday night, and the first round starts Friday night.

The undefeated teams during the regular season are:

Gateway
Bethel Park

Highlands

Shady Side
Greensburg Catholic
Beaver Falls

Clairton
Avonworth

During the playoffs, each week we’ll be voting on selected marquee playoff games.

Also the final RizzoSports.com 2008 WPIAL Football Rankings will be out on Monday morning.

Kittanning Football's keys against FC.

I’m sure everyone is getting prepared for the big game in Ford Cliff tonight. If you’re not going to be at the game, once again it will be live on FLTV and WTYM 1380.

I’m going to approach this piece by looking at what Kittanning can do to reverse the trend, and pull the upset tonight. First off the game has been moved to the final weekend of the regular season, I won’t take part of the credit for that, I’ll take all the credit. With that said, weather could be a factor, so if it gets ugly out, it will favor Kittanning.

It goes with out saying for Kittanning to win; the score will have to be close. Secondly we all know they can’t have turnovers, another given.

The only unfortunate thing about having no out of conference games is it’s difficult to tell how good teams are. Ford City is ranked 8th in current WPIAL Football Rankings. The fact of the matter is, the Sabers seem slightly below the level they’ve been at for the prior 3 seasons. Kittanning could easily be 7-1, but as it stands, this game is their version of WPIAL championship.

Back to the keys for Kittanning, the Cats match-up well against FC on the line. This is really the only factor giving Kittanning a chance, that they must be able to get positive yards on the ground. Logan Atwood’s injury will hurt Kittanning as he is clearly their best weapon against Ford City. An already predictable offense is now even more predictable. Trust me, Kittanning doesn’t have a bag of trick plays either for this game.

The Cats will need to take patience to a whole new level, and posses the football 70% of the time. 5 yard runs time and time again, will be best offense and in turn best defense against Ford City.

What are you’re thoughts….

Kittanning vs. Ford City Football

If you want to vote for the winner of the Kittanning vs. Ford City Football game, please do so on the homepage of www.RizzoSports.com

Enjoy the Game!

WPIAL Football | Rivalry Week

It's the last week of the WPIAL regular season, and this year some of best rivalries are also the most important games.

Gateway vs. McKeesport
Woodland Hills vs. Penn Hills
North Hills vs. North Allegheny
Jeannette vs. GCC
Beaver vs. Beaver Falls
Rochester vs. Monaca
Riverview vs. Springdale

Vote on WPIAL Games Here

Local Fans can the vote on Kittanning, Ford City Game Here

Ford City vs. Kittanning

Ford City is coming off a huge win against Burrell, and Kittanning has won 5 games in a row. The early line has Ford City as 12 point favorites at home. Let the voting starts early, who do you think will win the big game.

www.rizzosports.com

Kittanning Football's Playoff Chances

I'll be at Burrell tomorrow night to cover the Kittanning game live on WTYM 1380. If you missed the show on Tuesday, I broke down the Wildcats' playoff chances. As of now they're tied with Freeport and Burrell with 3-3 section records. The problem for Wildcats fans is the lost to Freeport. We all know the Cats have to win out to have a chance, that's a given since only the top 4 teams make the playoffs. Freeport goes to West Shomkin, Deer Lakes, then they host Summit Academy, if Freeport wins out, they will make the playoffs over Kittanning simply because they won the head to head match-up. Kittanning fans best hope is Deer Lakes pulling an upset next week, not to mention the Cats going 3-0 the rest of the way.

There also is a chance Valley could finish the season with 3 loses, but they make the playoffs over Freeport and Kittanning should they all finish with 3 loses. Then Freeport would take the fourth spot since they defeated Kittanning.

Ford City v Shady Side Friday Night

The big local story is Ford City hosting Shady Side this Friday night. The key to this game could be how well the Sabers handle SSA's front defensive line. Ford City has been able to win these big games in recent years - will the streak continue?

Watch Ford City Football on RSW.

Local Saber fans can watch the game on FLTV 23 live, this Friday.