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Mike White's high school football chat: 11.19.19
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Mike White
10:59
Well, four WPIAL championships are in the books. Two more Saturday. Two WPIAL teams start PIAA playoffs Friday. Official basketball practice has started. Let's us get started. Questions, anyone?
Wpial Fan
10:59
Have to give Pine coaches and players props for having a great plan for game. They got the ball out quicker and tried screen with four receivers. Great plan, but number 8 for PCC seemed to sniff it out was all over the field killed the flats. Pine def also really stepped up against the run compared to first game. Shows great coaching.  If PCC would ever exploit middle of field with quick passes could go far in state. Def line again one of the best I have seen in High school.  Hope Wpial represents well in states. Thoughts on Friday game?
Mike White
11:01
Close game, but Pine-Richland outplayed Central Catholic. Central had 138 yards offense. I checked it. That's the fewest by the winning team in the largest classification championship ever in a Heinz Field game. But Pine has only themselves to blame. Five turnovers. Still, they could've won without that last INT. But yardage doesn't matter. Numbers on the scoreboard do. And Central did enough to win.
Lloyd Christmas
11:01
Biggest story line for the upcoming hoops season? I hear Bill Swan and the Hempfield Spartans are loaded...
Mike White
11:02
Oh, that's everywhere. Charles, Shaq, Ernie and The Jet were talking about it just last week on Inside The NBA. Everyone knows it. With any kind of coaching, Hempfield should be in Hershey come March winning a state title in the largest class. And be undefeated.
john
11:03
Mike. I enjoy your insight with the local teams.
Mike White
11:03
Why thank you, John. Very nice to say. Too bad I now need "readers" for my sight.
john
11:03
Do the Quips continue to dominate in 3A , drop to 2A ? Will they still continue to have the numbers to play at their Championship level ?
Mike White
11:04
I think they'll stay in 3A. Talented skill-position players don't seem to be in abundance, but Quips have linemen. Started two freshmen on OL and three freshmen played.
Wike Mhite
11:04
Hopefully this isn’t a repeat question in the queue.  Mike - how do you think the WPIAL feels about television exposing some bad calls by the refs throughout the champ games?  I know the refs are doing the best they can and it is unfortunate that some major mistakes are exposed on the biggest stage BUT how can you ask TV to not show a replay.  Tough situation all around.
Mike White
11:06
Hey, officials are going to make wrong calls. They do it at every level. They do it in the NFL. Expect it.  Contrary to a lot of people, I'm not an official basher. It ain't easy - at any level. Heinz used the WPCW TV feed on the big board. WPCW shows replays. So be it. I don't think they should get rid of the replays on the big board. They show when players screw up. Why can't they show when officials screw up?
South Hills
11:06
Mike-nice job announcing the games, I enjoyed listening.  What was your favorite moment from the weekend?
Mike White
11:09
Hmmmm. Tough to say favorite. I thought the ending of Central Valley-Aliquippa was good stuff. And the Central Valley line literally carrying Mike Barbuto into end zone for TD in overtime. That was memorable. The Aliquippa QB playing despite his mother dying Friday night was a memorable story line. The 2A and 6A games were good. The 1A game was ... well let's just let it go. With TV timeouts, it took almost 3 1/2 hours. Yikes. TJ getting to mercy rule helped speed things up. Otherwise, the night would've ended Saturday morning. WPIAL needs to either start first game at 10 or play three games there.
Wike Mhite
11:09
As we approach a new enrollment/classification cycle in football, I can’t help but feel like the fans missed out on some great championship games at the 4A level.  Unfortunately during their 4 years in 4A South Fayette faltered among the way in 3 out of the 4 years.  The teams that beat them deserved to move on but in each of those years, SF’s losses were plagued with uncharacteristic mistakes.  Oh well, just a shame we didn’t see TJ vs SF more than once in the last 4 years.  That led to 3 ugly blowouts at Heinz that were barely worth watching at that level in ‘16, ‘17 and ‘19.
Mike White
11:10
Maybe South Fayette didn't deserve to be there.
Kgnc
11:11
Best time of the year in New Castle! Expecting great things as always. Anyone else to watch for in 4A?
Mike White
11:15
New Castle's section is exceptional. Besides 'Canes, Section 2 has Quaker Valley. Lost a lot but I'm telling you they are still good. Central Valley now has Isiah Warfield, transferred from Sewickley. I know he is right now ineligible for postseason. WPIAL ruled that yesterday. But I expect he will appeal to PIAA and PIAA could overturn. WPIAL vote was close, which leads me to believe that decent chance PIAA could overturn. That Section 2 also has Blackhawk, which should be good. Then there's still Ambridge. Elsewhere, Highlands and Knoch should be good. So 4A has some depth of quality teams. More than last year.
Wike Mhite
11:15
Do you feel that the WPIAL 5A champ (either PT or Gateway) has a strong chance at winning states?   Whoever emerges from this game will certainly be battle tested due to the gauntlet that is 5A WPIAL (both reg season and even more so playoffs).
Mike White
11:16
I wouldn't say strong. Winner might get Archbishop Wood in semis. I know Penn Hills beat Wood last year and Wood might not be as strong as years past. But they are still good. I'd say WPIAL winner has decent chance, but not strong.
Indian tears
11:16
I know this is the football chat but it is also basketball season so I got a bball question.  Why is North Hills playing up in 6A?  They have not been competitive the past two years and I assume they will struggle again this year as they graduated a ton of seniors.  Who makes the call on playing up?  Makes no sense to me.
Mike White
11:18
Because they want to. Coach Gabos and athletic department decision. They feel like they can be competitive in the future and they want to play the teams that they've played for years, teams that are close to them and draw more interest. Look at football. Many teams complain about who they have to play. Besides North Hills is right on the border of 6A. Have to wait for official numbers to come out. Might be 6A anyway and might be 6A again in two more years, so ..
Wike Mhite
11:18
Way to be salty Mike.  It’s ok for the fans to wish they saw a better matchup.  I’d imagine most people on your chat would’ve preferred to see SF vs. TJ.  I typed up a very respectful comment so your response seems a bit petty.  Of course SF didn’t make it and the team that did deserved it, I said that.
Mike White
11:24
Salty? Well I do like Salt N Pepa. So "Ahh, push it. Push it real good." Ha ha. You said fans might have "missed out on some great championships at the 4A level" because South Fayette wasn't in the championship. Who's to say those South Fayette teams would've done anything different against TJ?
Lloyd Christmas
11:24
Will you be at the Championships this weekend?  My guess is no.  Westmoreland County seems to be off your radar...
Mike White
11:25
Yes, Mr. Westmoreland I will be there.  Where is Westmoreland County again??
Bill
11:25
I wish the 5A game was at least played at a college stadium. Robert Morris or Carnegie Mellon. Just not the same at Norwin.
Mike White
11:27
Really? Robert Morris or Carnegie Mellon? Please. No parking at CMU. Both stadiums don't even have seating of both sides of the field. Just one said. I hate stadiums like that. I'd say Norwin is better to play than both of those places. Playing at Robert Morris or CMU would add nothing.
Wike Mhite
11:27
Are you aware of any schools planning to play up in Football?  Did anybody play up last cycle besides McKeesport and Aliquippa?
Mike White
11:28
PIAA will release in December what schools are playing up. McKeesport is thinking about possibly staying in 4A.
jp
11:28
I know this is a football chat and still football season but have you had time to look at the local high school basketball teams to watch for this upcoming season ? thanks
Mike White
11:29
I have not been to any practices. But my No.  1 teams right now would be Butler in 6A, Mars in 5A, New Castle 4A, Lincoln Park 3A, 2A not sure but probably OLSH and Vincentian definitely in 1A.
Btown Texan
11:30
How were the crowds at the games on Saturday? It is a shame more people don't attend these. Living here in Texas now, but growing up in Pittsburgh, it is so football crazy here and remember it being that way at home in the past. Even the small towns closing up shop to have whole town attend. Just don't understand.
Mike White
11:31
Well Btown, Western Pa. has never been Texas and Western Pa. isn't like it used to be, either. Attendance was 14,110 this year. People don't go to playoff games like they used to here. But I don't think that's just a Western Pa. thing. I think it's lot of places.
Steve
11:31
What WPIAL will give Pine the biggest competition in 5A next year? Also is there a 5A powerhouse from the east like St Joes?
Mike White
11:32
Archbishop Wood in 5A would be similar to St. Joe's. Next year in 5A, Gateway will still be very good. Derrick Davis and others back. Moon should be good. Lot of young players. Upper St. Clair has Dahlem and Pantelis back. Penn-Trafford looks like it will be good every year now. Class 5A has good teams.
Quip_Town
11:32
Do you think the WPIAL will reclassify based off of gate money considerations?
Mike White
11:33
No.
Wike Mhite
11:33
Do you think there’s any legitimate talk of moving the 1A Game up to 10am?  That would definitely be a good idea.  They got very lucky that CV vs Quip went quick and the TJ Mercy rule helped a lot!
Mike White
11:33
There should be. If it's such a "huge" deal to kids to play at Heinz, like the WPIAL says, then there should be no problem playing the game at 7 a.m. if they want. Something needs to change.
Bobby Mo Booster
11:33
Any discussions about moving WPIAL Hoops Championship to UPMC Events Center? Pitt-RMU game there was an awesome atmosphere, would be a great place for WPIAL Championship games, much more intimate than the Pete.
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