Warm weather is awesome.
Dips in the pool and sitting in a beach chair staring out at the ocean are cool, too.
And while summer is most definitely this scribe’s favorite season, fall is a clear second.
The foliage is beautiful and the crisp weather is a welcomed change up from the scorching summer days, but it’s football, specifically high school football, that truly makes the fall months special.
While it’s a bit of a bummer that fall doesn’t officially begin until Sept. 22, at least we don’t have to wait that long for some high school football.
One more sleep, and we’ll be there.
Here are 10 things I’m looking forward to watching this season …
• Stadium grub. Food is on my mind now (I probably should have eaten before I sat down to write this) and will be again Friday nights when the smell of whatever is cooking up at the concession stand is in the air. Variety is nice, and Western Pa. is quite the melting pot. There’s a soft spot in my heart — and in my belly — for ethnic foods. My favorite stop last season was at Cornell, which had a menu that included haluski, meatball hoagies and walking tacos. Yum!
• Fort Cherry three-peat? Prior to 2023, Fort Cherry had never won a WPIAL title. The Rangers now have their eyes on a Class 1A three-peat. Matt Sieg hopes to bring The Fort another title before he leaves for Penn State. But it won’t be easy, especially considering Clairton is absolutely loaded. It took some late Sieg magic for the Rangers to send the Bears into hibernation in last year’s final. If it comes down to those two again, will it be a similar result?
• Legatron. Did you know there’s a kid from the WPIAL committed to play at the University of Georgia? Yep, and he just so happens to be a kicker and punter at Fox Chapel. Harran Zureikat is considered one of the nation’s best specialists. You could say that Zureikat, whose parents are from Jordan, is the Michael Jordan of kicking, at least when it comes to high schoolers. The WPIAL record for longest field goal is 55 yards. Will this teen with the booming leg to break it?
• Great backs in the Greater Allegheny. Two of the top running backs nationally in the 2027 class not only play in the WPIAL, but also their teams play in the very same conference. Go ahead and circle Oct. 3 on the calendar, as that’s the night Kemon Spell and McKeesport travel to play Armand Hill and West Mifflin. Spell is a Penn State recruit, and Hill is committed to West Virginia. 247 Sports ranks Spell the No. 1 running back in the class and ranks Hill at No. 14.
• Pine-Peters trilogy. I’m all about parity when it comes to teams playing for championships, but the thought of Pine-Richland and Peters Township potentially meeting in the WPIAL Class 5A final for the third year in a row sounds appealing. It would be one heck of a rubber match after Peters won in 2023 and Pine returned the favor last season. The quarterback matchup between Oobi Strader and Nolan DiLucia would be worth the price of admission itself.
• Super-sized line. When the Central Catholic offensive line gets together for dinner, that bill is not cheap. While the five on average aren’t as hefty as Aliquippa’s enormous “Trench Dawgs” from a few years back, the group is taller and still extremely bulky for a high school line. Jimmy Kalis is 6-7, 285; Jon Sassic is 6-6, 285; Matt Bowers is 6-4, 285; Cole Bayer is 6-0, 295; and James Halter is 6-5, 270. Oh, and these guys can play, too. Three own Power Four offers.
• He’s back. A familiar face returns to the sideline as Mike Warfield is back as Aliquippa coach after taking a leave of absence last season. Warfield had gone 74-6 in six seasons, winning four WPIAL and three PIAA titles. Last year was an uncharacteristic one for the Quips, who saw their run of 16 consecutive WPIAL championship appearances come to an end. But with Warfield back, along with Yale-bound quarterback Marques Council, will the Quips claim title No. 21?
• X’s and O’s. There will be many new coaches roaming the sidelines this season. A few have won WPIAL and PIAA titles (Aliquippa’s Mike Warfield and Bishop Canevin’s Rod Steele), two are interim coaches (Canon-McMillan’s Brian DeLallo and North Hills’ Brody Zangaro) taking over for coaches fighting health issues, one is 74 years old (Rochester’s Don Phillips) and another was once a teammate of Aaron Rodgers (Seneca Valley’s Don Barclay).
• Magic in the community. To me, when it comes to high school football, there aren’t many things more special than seeing a team have a magical season. That magic might lead to something as grand as capturing a first WPIAL title or possibly just winning a playoff game. Last year’s magic included South Park winning its first WPIAL title in 19 years and South Allegheny claiming its first playoff win in 38 years. I’m excited to see what magic we see next.
• State champs, anyone? The PIAA playoffs were a house of horrors for WPIAL teams last season. For the first time since 1992 and for just the second time since the PIAA playoffs kicked off in 1988, not a single WPIAL team hoisted a championship trophy. Central Catholic and Avonworth played for titles, but both went home with runner-up trophies. History suggests that was just a blip on the radar, though, so chances are a WPIAL team will reign supreme this fall.
Editor Rick Davis
Reporters Brad Everett, Steve Rotstein, John Santa, Rob Joesbury
Photographer Emily Matthews
Art designer Jennifer Kundrach
Web designer Tyler Pecyna
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.