The Road to Hershey continues across the state this week with huge games that will determine shape what the respective state tournament brackets will look like. In all, there will six head-to-head matchups inside the High School Football America Pennsylvania Top 25 this week.
Starting out west, No. 2 North Allegheny, which is also ranked No. 29 in the High School Football America 100 national high school football rankings powered by BlackMP Living Water, will play No. 6 Pittsburgh Central Catholic for the WPIAL 6A championship. The North Allegheny/PCC game is a rematch of the September 25 game between the two that was won by the Tigers 35-21.
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The North Allegheny/Pittsburgh Central Catholic game advances to the Pennsylvania Class 6A state quarterfinals. The winner gets the winner of this week’s game between No. 4 McDowell and Erie.
On the other side of the state’s 6A bracket is another intra-Top 25 game between No. 15 Coatesville and Top 25 newcomer Pennridge. The Rams make their first-ever appearance in our Top 25 at No. 24.
Central York, which will play for a District 3 Class 6A title this weekend against York’s William Penn High School, is also making its first-ever appearance in our statewide Top 25. The Panthers are No. 20 this week after rolling past former No. 3 Central Dauphin 42-15. Central Dauphin drops to No. 22 in the latest statewide rankings.
The Road to Hershey in the WPIAL’s 5A bracket is loaded with heavyweights. In this week’s semifinals, No. 3 Pine-Richland takes-on No. 14 Penn-Trafford with the winner taking-on the winner of the game between No. 8 Gateway and No. 11 Peters Township.
The final head-to-head in the Top 25 will be in the Philadelphia Catholic League where No. 5 La Salle plays No. 16 Archbishop Wood. Both teams still have an outside shot at advancing to the Class 6A state semifinals.
Due to the shortened PCL because of the coronavirus, the District 12 champ is being determined by a round robin slate of games between two-time defending state champ St. Joseph’s Prep, La Salle, Roman Catholic and Wood.
SJP can lock-up the state semifinal berth by beating Roman Catholic this weekend. The Hawks, who are ranked No. 5 in America in our Top 100, have already between La Salle and Wood.
High School Football America Pennsylvania Top 25
No. 1 St. Joseph’s Prep (3-0), LW: #1
No. 2 North Allegheny (6-0), LW: #2
No. 3 Pine-Richland (7-0), LW: #4
No. 4 McDowell (5-0), LW: #6
No. 5 La Salle College HS (4-1), LW: #5
No. 6 Pittsburgh Central Catholic (5-2), LW: #8
No. 7 Harrisburg (4-1), LW: #9*
No. 8 Gateway (5-0), LW: #11
No. 9 Southern Columbia (8-0), LW: #10
No. 10 Cathedral Prep (4-2), LW: #12
No. 11 Peters Township (7-0), LW: #13
No. 12 Warwick (7-0), LW: #14
No. 13 Governor Mifflin (6-0), LW: #15
No. 14 Penn-Trafford (6-1), LW: #17
No. 15 Coatesville (4-0), LW: #18
No. 16 Archbishop Wood (2-1), LW: #16
No. 17 Mount Lebanon (4-3), LW: #7
No. 18 Downingtown West (2-1), LW: #22
No. 19 Thomas Jefferson (6-1), LW: #20
No. 20 Central York (7-0), LW: NR
No. 21 Nazareth (6-0), LW: #23
No. 22 Central Dauphin (5-1), LW: #3
No. 23 Aliquippa (8-0), LW: #25
No. 24 Pennridge (5-0), LW: NR
No. 25 Central Valley (8-0), LW: NR
Dropped-out: No. 19 McKeesport, No. 21 Downingtown East, No. 25 Wilson (West Lawn)
*Forfeit loss due to COVID-19
Editor’s Note: The High School Football America national, regional and state rankings are developed using our proprietary algorithm.
