8 • SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2022 • VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
CLASS 4A
PRESEASON RANKINGS
1. Aliquippa (13-1)
The Quips have reloaded this fall
and hope to make it two PIAA
titles in a row.
2. Thomas Jefferson (8-3)
3. McKeesport (9-3)
4. Central Valley (15-0)
5. North Catholic (12-1)
* RECORDS FROM 2021
THE STARS
RODNEY GALLAGHER
Laurel Highlands, Sr.,
QB/WR/DB
He committed to WVU in May,
choosing it over two dozen other
D-I offers. He threw for more
than 1,300 yards and rushed for
more than 1,100 last year with
38 combined touchdowns.
CAMERON LINDSEY
Aliquippa, Jr., LB/RB
The four-star recruit helped
Aliquippa capture the Class 4A
state title with an interception
returned 34 yards for a touchdown.
D-I offers include Pitt,
Penn State, WVU and Cincinnati.
CADIN OLSEN
Armstrong, Sr., QB
The Penn commit threw for
2,501 yards and 28 TDs last
season. He also ran for 830
yards and 16 scores and was
voted the Willie Thrower Award
winner as the WPIAL’s top QB.
LAMONT PAYNE
Chartiers Valley, Sr., CB/WR
The two-way standout committed
to Penn State early in his
junior season.
JAYVIN THOMPSON
Central Valley, Sr., WR/LB/S
Thompson made 40 tackles last
year, and he returned an interception
for a touchdown in a
WPIAL championship victory.
DON’T MISS
10.7 Hampton at N. Catholic
Both teams went unbeaten in
conference play last year.
10.28 Thomas Jefferson at
McKeesport
The final game of the regular
season for both teams could
very well decide the Big 7
Conference championship. The
Tigers and Jaguars both were
WPIAL semifinalists a year ago.
McKeesport won both meetings
the past two seasons (20-14,
42-28) since the teams became
conference foes.
10.28 Central Valley at
Aliquippa
This date in the high school
football schedule is loaded with
top matchups, and the two
Parkway Conference heavyweights
will continue their high-intensity
rivalry. Central Valley has won
four in a row, including the 2019
WPIAL Class 3A title game and
last year’s nonconference matchup,
21-12. It was the Quips’ only
loss in 14 games.
QUIPS SET FOR DEFENSE
In winter 2020, Aliquippa
challenged the PIAA assertion,
under the competitive-balance
rule, that it should move up from
Class 3A to Class 4A.
Despite their best efforts, including
the fact they were already
voluntarily playing up in
Class 3A, the Quips were bumped
up one class and into a grouping
that included heavyweights
Belle Vernon, McKeesport and
Thomas Jefferson.
Aliquippa not only survived, it
thrived, making the WPIAL title
game in the covid-affected 2020
season before falling to Thomas
Jefferson.
The Quips rolled in 2021, winning
12 in a row after an early
season nonconference loss to
Central Valley. They breezed
through the Parkway Conference,
blanked Laurel Highlands
in the WPIAL quarterfinals and
outlasted McKeesport in the
semifinals before topping Belle
Vernon, 28-13, to claim the program’s
18th WPIAL crown.
Aliquippa capped its season
with its fourth PIAA championship,
34-27, in Hershey.
In January, the Quips successfully
rebuffed another competitive
balance challenge as a
contingent of coaches, administrators
and former players such
as Ty Law lobbied the PIAA on
their behalf.
Aliquippa now enters the 2022
season hoping to capture backto
back Class 4A titles and follow
Thomas Jefferson’s lead after the
Jaguars did it in 2016-2017 and
again in 2019-2020.
But the competition and pressure
is expected to be sizeable
with McKeesport and Thomas
Jefferson, both semifinalists last
year, ready to make a challenge
in a deep Class 4A field along
with the likes of newcomers Central
Valley and North Catholic.
“When we were in Class 5A,
we thought 5A was the toughest
one, and then all these teams
started moving around,” said
McKeesport coach Matt Miller,
who, with the help of players
such as senior standout running
back and safety Bobby Boyd,
hopes to see his Tigers improve
on last year’s 9-3 overall record.
“We like the challenge in 4A.
You have Belle Vernon dropping
down (to Class 3A), but teams
like North Catholic and Central
Valley will be ready. It should be
competitive top to bottom. For
us, I’ve been pleased with the
work we’ve done to be where we
are. We have some guys in new
positions, and they’ve picked
it all up fast. With the talented
young men and great leaders we
have, I am really excited for the
season to get started.”
Bill Cherpak is back for his
28th season at Thomas Jefferson,
and he hopes to lead his Jaguars
to the program’s 11th WPIAL
title and sixth since 2015.
Cherpak also is eight wins
away (292-50) from 300 career
victories with TJ.
“Overall, we had a pretty good
summer of work, but now we
have to make it count,” Cherpak
said. “It’s hard to predict how we
can do this season because while
we do have some good players
returning, there are some who
have never played varsity before.
That is the challenge, finding the
right mix.
“The returning guys are hungry
as they embrace being one
of the predicted top teams every
year. They don’t take it for
granted. They also understand
and talk about how they felt they
failed last year in their goal of
getting to the title game and winning
another title.”
WPIAL Class 4A saw the most
changes of any class in the
WPIAL under the new alignment
for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Along with Belle Vernon,
Plum, Beaver, West Mifflin,
Knoch and Greensburg Salem
exited the classification.
Central Valley, which breezed
through its 2021 schedule to win
WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A titles,
now is an instant contender in
Class 4A.
North Catholic hopes for a solid
start to its time in Class 4A after
finishing as WPIAL runner-up
to the Warriors last year. The
Trojans, who last won a WPIAL
title in 2013 (Class A), bring a
strong reputation to the table
and will be tested in the Greater
Allegheny Conference and also
in a nonconference clash with
Aliquippa on Sept. 9.
“We’re really excited to be
moving up and have these new
opportunities, playing a lot of
local schools, and once we settle
in, build some really nice rivalries,”
North Catholic coach Pat
O’Shea said. “The competition
in 4A overall, it’s just week after
week after week, no matter
what conference you’re in or
whatever crossovers you’ve got.
It is at a real high level. I told
the kids how cool it is to play
some of these historic teams and
programs.”
Also moving into Class 4A
are Ambridge, West Allegheny,
Kiski Area, Connellsville and
Latrobe, and they join other classification
mainstays Blackhawk,
Chartiers Valley, New Castle,
Armstrong, Laurel Highlands,
Ringgold, Hampton, Highlands,
Indiana, Mars and Trinity.
Hampton, the defending
Greater Allegheny Conference
champion, Laurel Highlands,
New Castle and Armstrong also
were WPIAL quarterfinalists
last year.
While there were changes to
the team makeup of Class 4A,
change also came to 10 teams
with new head coaches.
Perhaps the most high-profile
of the moves came at Mars, as
former Pine-Richland coach Eric
Kasperowicz returns to the high
school coaching ranks after a
one-year hiatus.
“It is an awesome feeling to
really get rolling,” Kasperowicz
said. “The kids have been working
hard and are excited for a
good year. I don’t know much
about our conference having
been up in Class 6A and 5A for so
long, but I know there are a lot of
reputable programs. It will be a
challenge, but it will be fun, too.”
The Planets are hoping to
bounce back from an uncharacteristic
2-8 season. The Mars
school board in January voted to
open the head coaching position,
ending Scott Heinauer’s 30-year
tenure with the program.
Heinauer won more than 200
games with the Planets.
Scott Sciullo is the new head
coach at Hampton, replacing Jacque
DeMatteo, who stepped down
after 14 seasons with the Talbots
to focus on family, including
watching his son, Matt, compete
in college on the track team at
Duquesne.
Sciullo, a Shaler graduate, enjoyed
a standout football career
at Marshall before being drafted
in 2003 by the Indianapolis Colts.
The former Deer Lakes coach
most recently served as an assistant
with DeMatteo at Hampton
and knows it will be a stiff challenge
to repeat in the Greater
Allegheny Conference against
the likes of North Catholic, Kiski
Area, Highlands and Armstrong.
“We lost a lot of seniors, but
we also got a lot of kids back who
have all-conference experience,”
Sciullo said. “We have a lot to
prove, and we want to prove it.
We’re excited about our league
because each team is similar. No
game will be easy as every team
in the conference wants to be
where we were last year.”
Other coaching moves saw
Dan Knause move from Chartiers
Valley to Trinity. Aaron
Fitzpatrick takes over a Colts
program hoping to move up the
ranks in the Parkway Conference.
After 10 seasons, there is a
new coach at New Castle as Stacy
Robinson takes over for Joe
Cowart.
Tri-coaches — Jace McClean,
Mick Lilley and Chad Lembo —
are in charge at Connellsville,
while Matt Bonislawski (Highlands),
Brad Wright (Indiana),
Ron Prady (Latrobe) and Marcus
McCullough (Ringgold) will test
their coaching mettle in new
homes.
by MICHAEL LOVE
Quarterback Quentin Goode will lead returning WPIAL and PIAA
champion Aliquippa this season.