JOHNSTOWN —
The four teams that played Saturday night in the WestPAC boys and girls championships – the girls from Berlin and Conemaugh Township and the boys from Township and Shanksville-Stonycreek – head into the District 5 playoffs, which open Thursday and Friday with all games at 7 p.m. unless otherwise stated.
In the Class A boys bracket with games set for Thursday, Southern Fulton earned the top seed and will face No. 8 Fannett-Metal. The WestPAC runner-up Vikings have the second seed and host seventh-seeded Forbes Road.
“The message in the locker room was that playing Township was a good test for us and we did well,” said Shanksville coach Bob Snyder after Saturday night’s title game. “Hopefully we grow from this and down the road this will help us.”
In the other Class A boys games, third-seeded Shade hosts No. 6 Rockwood while No. 5 Berlin Brothersvalley travels to No. 4 Hyndman.
The semifinals are set for Feb. 28 at neutral sites with the championship on March 2 at 8 p.m. at the Pitt-Johnstown Sports Center.
In Class AA girls, WestPAC runner-up Conemaugh Township has earned the top seed and along with second-seeded Tussey Mountain, get a first-round bye.
“With districts coming up, it’s a whole new mindset,” Indians coach Stacey Hazlett said after her team’s loss to Berlin in the WestPAC final. “We’re going to get into the gym and start working on some things that we saw and try to turn things around.”
On Thursday, No. 5 Everett will be at fourth-seeded Windber with the winner heading to Conemaugh Township to face the Indians in the semifinals on Feb. 28.
The other matchup Thursday has
No. 6 Bedford at Northern Bedford, the third seed, with the winner to play in the Feb. 28 semifinal at Tussey Mountain.
The championship for the Class AA girls is at 6 p.m. on March 2 at UPJ.
The WestPAC champion Berlin girls are the second seed in Class A, which begins on Friday, and play host to No. 7 Shade.
“We set goals at the end of last year and at the beginning of this season that we wanted to get back to the District 5 championship and win it,” Berlin coach Rachel Prosser said. “We have to get better at the little things in order to accomplish our goals. We are a different team than we were earlier in the season and we have to focus on the task at hand, and that’s Shade.”
In the other Class A girls action, top-seeded Southern Fulton hosts No. 8 Forbes Road, No. 5 McConnellsburg is at fourth-seeded Shanksville and No. 6 Fannett-Metal is at third-seeded Meyersdale.
The semifinals are Feb. 29 at neutral sites with the Class A title game set for 6 p.m. on March 3 at UPJ.
The WestPAC champion Conemaugh Township boys are the top seed in Class AA and have earned a first-round bye along with second-seeded Chestnut Ridge.
“It’s one and done now,” Township coach Chuck Lesko said. “If you want to continue playing into March, then you have to take care of business. We’re probably going to take a day or two off because we don’t play for at least a week (Feb. 29 in the semifinals) and then we’ll get back to work and try to refocus on the next goal.”
The Indians get a tough draw in the semifinals, earning the winner of fourth-seeded Tussey Mountain/No. 5 Windber, who play their first-round game set for Friday in Saxton.
The other game set for Friday features No. 6 North Star at third-seeded Northern Bedford, with the winner to play the Lions on Feb. 29.
The Class AA boys championship is at 8 p.m. on March 3 at UPJ.
The defending District 5 champions are Southern Fulton in Class A girls and boys, Windber in Class AA girls and North Star in Class AA boys.
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