By Don Rebel, The Tribune-Review, Greensburg The Tribune Content Agency
One week remains in the 2024 WPIAL football regular season with plenty of postseason berths and conference crowns still up for grabs.
It's also one week closer to the new-look WPIAL football playoffs, or at least how some spots are determined.
Wild card berths have expanded and are no longer figured out by the mathematic equations, so now 16 teams will have to wait until Selection Saturday before they find out if they are participating in the district postseason as a wild card team.
So in this exercise, we will determine which teams have already clinched and what others have to do to secure a definitive playoff spot.
Here is a look at the teams that have clinched and the schedule for teams in the hunt heading into Week 9.
Conference records listed next to teams and only remaining conference games are listed.
Class 6A
Top four teams in the seven-team standings qualify for the playoffs.
*If Seneca Valley defeats North Allegheny, the Raiders finish second and the Tigers are third.
*If Seneca Valley loses, Mt. Lebanon wins and Canon-McMillan loses, the Blue Devils are third because of head-to-head win over Seneca Valley, the Raiders are fourth and Big Macs are out based on head-to-head for Seneca Valley over Canon-McMillan.
*If Seneca Valley loses, Mt. Lebanon wins and Canon-McMillan wins, Canon-McMillan would finish third based on Gardner Points, then Mt. Lebanon would be fourth based on head-to-head with Seneca Valley
*If Mt. Lebanon and Canon-McMillan lose, they would tie Hempfield and it would come down to tiebreaker points for fourth place. Mt. Lebanon is 0, Canon-McMillan is -13 and Hempfield is -28. The Blue Devils would clinch with most tiebreaker points.
Class 5A
Total of 12 playoff teams: Top three teams in each of the Allegheny Six, Big East and Northeast conferences earn playoff berths, plus three wild card teams to be determined by the WPIAL football steering committee.
Big East Conference
Woodland Hills Wolverines, 5-0 (clinched first place)
Franklin Regional Panthers, 3-2 (clinched third place)
*Franklin Regional is in third place because it owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over both Latrobe and Kiski Area.
*If both Latrobe and Kiski Area lose, they are tied for fourth place with Gateway. The Gators would finish fourth in the hunt for a wild card based on tiebreaker points. Heading into Week 9, Latrobe is -12, Kiski Area is -8 and Gateway is done at +6. If that scenario, head-to-head would then give Kiski Area fifth place and Latrobe sixth place
*If Plum beats Penn Hills, that forces a three-way tie for second place. Tiebreaker points heading into Week 9 are Penn Hills +20, North Hills done at +12 and Plum at +3. If Plum wins by 10 or more points, Plum would have the most points and finish second, and head-to-head would give Penn Hills third place. If Plum wins by 9, they tie North Hills in points and North Hills would finish second, Plum third based on head-to-head. If Plum wins by 8 points or less, Penn Hills would be tied in points with North Hills and finish second based on head-to-head with North Hills third.
*Winner of Bethel Park at Peters Township finishes second, loser is third.
*Winner of South Fayette at Moon finishes fourth, loser is fifth.
Class 4A
Total of 8 playoff teams: Top two teams in each of the Parkway, Big Six and Greater Allegheny conferences earn playoff berths, plus two wild card teams to be determined by the WPIAL football steering committee.
*If West Allegheny defeats Montour and Aliquippa beats Ambridge, there is a three-way tie for the conference title. Tiebreaker points will determine the final order. Coming into Week 9, Montour is +31, Aliquippa is +29 and West Allegheny is +20
*The winner of Belle Vernon at Trinity will finish in second place and clinch. The loser finishes third and is alive for a wild card spot.
*If West Mifflin beats Hampton on Friday, the Titans will finish in third place and be alive for a wild card.
*If Hampton beats West Mifflin and Knoch loses to McKeesport, there will be a three-way tie for third place in the wild card chase. Tiebreaker points to determine third place heading into Week 9 are West Mifflin 0, Knoch 0 and Hampton -20.
Class 3A
Total of 12 playoff teams: Top three teams in each of the Western Hills, Allegheny Seven and Interstate conferences earn playoff berths, plus three wild card teams to be determined by the WPIAL football steering committee.
*If Avonworth wins at Beaver on Friday, the Antelopes are the conference champions and the Bobcats are in third place behind Central Valley.
*If Beaver beats Avonworth, there is a three-way tie for first place and will be broken by tiebreaker points. Coming into Week 9, Avonworth is +47, Beaver is +30 and Central Valley is done with +41. Beaver can't finish first in tiebreaker, but it could finish second if it beats Avonworth by 7 or more points.
*The winner of the Hopewell at North Catholic game on Friday will finish in fourth place and be in good shape in the wild card chase.
*If Imani Christian beats Freeport, the Saints are first, Deer Lakes would be second (win or lose) and the Yellowjackets are third.
*If Freeport defeats Imani Christian and Deer Lakes wins, there will be a three-way tie for the conference championship. Tiebreaker points will determine first place and then head-to-head for second. Coming into Week 9, Imani Christian is +42, Freeport is +33 and Deer Lakes is +18.
*If Elizabeth Forward defeats Mt. Pleasant on Friday, the Warriors are the conference champions.
- If Mt. Pleasant beats Elizabeth Forward and Southmoreland defeats Greensburg Salem, the Vikings, Warriors and Scotties would be tied for the conference championship. Tiebreaker points would determine first place and then head-to-head would be second. Heading into Week 9, Elizabeth Forward is +40, Southmoreland +20 and Mt. Pleasant +10. In that case, Elizabeth Forward would be first because even if Southmoreland ties the Warriors in points, EF wins head-to-head tiebreaker. Southmoreland would be second based on head-to-head with Mt. Pleasant.
*If Mt. Pleasant beats Elizabeth Forward and Southmoreland loses at Greensburg Salem, the Vikings will finish first, the Warriors will be second and the Golden Lions are third.
*If Mt. Pleasant loses to EF and Southmoreland loses to Greensburg Salem, then there is a three-way tie for second place. Tiebreaker points to determine second place coming into Week 9 are Southmoreland +20, Mt. Pleasant +10 and Greensburg Salem +3. In that case, once second place is determined by points, third place reverts back to head-to-head
Class 2A
Total of 13 playoff teams: Top three teams in each of the Allegheny, Midwestern Athletic and Century conferences earn playoff berths, plus four wild card teams to be determined by the WPIAL football steering committee.
*The winner of the South Allegheny at Steel Valley game on Friday will finish second and the loser will take third place.
Western Beaver Golden Beavers, 5-1 (clinched second place)
*The winner of the Riverside at Mohawk game on Friday will finish in third place and clinch a playoff berth. The loser will finish in fourth place and be alive for a wild card spot.
*The winner of the New Brighton at Union game Friday will finish in fifth place and have a shot at a wild card berth.
*If Washington defeats Seton LaSalle and Waynesburg Central beats Sto-Rox, the Little Prexies and Raiders would finish in a three-way tie with Keystone Oaks for second place. Washington would finish second based on wins over both Waynesburg Central and Keystone Oaks. Keystone Oaks would be third based on head-to-head win over Waynesburg Central.
*If Washington loses and Waynesburg Central wins, the Raiders will clinch and finish in third place with KO second.
*If Carlynton wins, Waynesburg Central wins and Washington loses, Carlynton would finish in fourth place and be alive for a wild card.
Class A
Total of 16 playoff teams: Top three teams in each of the Big 7, Eastern, Black Hills and Tri-County South conferences earn playoff berths, plus four wild card teams to be determined by the WPIAL football steering committee.
*The winner of the Laurel at Neshannock game on Friday is first and the loser is second.
*The winner of the South Side at Rochester game Friday will clinch and finish in third place. The loser is fourth and alive for a wild card berth.
Greensburg Central Catholic Centurions, 5-1 (clinched)
*The winner of the Greensburg Central Catholic at Leechburg game is in second place and the loser is third.
*If Jeannette wins on Saturday against Riverview, the Jayhawks will finish in fourth place.
*If Riverview beats Jeannette and Brentwood loses to Clairton, tiebreaker points would decide fourth pace and a possible wild card. Tiebreaker points heading into Week 9 include Jeannette at -9, Brentwood is -3 and Riverview is -17.
Bishop Canevin Crusaders, 4-1 (clinched second place)
*The winner of Monessen at Cornell will clinch and finish in third place.
*If West Greene, Bentworth and Carmichaels all win Friday, they will tie for third place. Tiebreaker points heading into Week 9 to determine third place is Bentworth at +7, Carmichaels is 0 and West Greene is -7, so if Bentworth wins by 3 or more points, it would finish third.
*If West Greene, Bentworth and Carmichaels all lose Friday, they would be tied for third place along with Avella. In that case, Carmichaels and West Greene would be 2-1 in head-to-head and Bentworth and Avella would be 1-2. Carmichaels would clinch and finish third based on head-to-head win over West Greene.