West Mifflin coach Lance Maha put the rest of the state on notice in a published report prior to his team’s Class AAA play-in game on Tuesday.

Maha said that his Titans are not to be taken lightly and, after making the statement, District 7-5 West Mifflin went out and crushed District 9-2 Bradford 66-46.

Next up for the Titans, a clash with District 6 champion Greater Johnstown Trojans in first-round action at 8 p.m. Friday at Central Cambria High School.

Johnstown coach Neil Cobaugh is well aware of West Mifflin and leading scorer C.J. Hester, who returned to the team for the preliminary game after being out with a concussion in the WPIAL playoffs.

“They were ranked second in the WPIAL playoffs and were upset in the quarterfinals by eventual champion Montour (which was ranked seventh),” Cobaugh said. “They were an early top 10 team in the state. We’re excited for the challenge to play them.”

Hester, who was averaging 18 points a game prior to his injury, will get plenty of attention from Johnstown’s defense.

“He gets a lot of his points off of offensive rebounds so we have to keep him off the boards,” Cobaugh said. “That is one of the keys for us is that we have to control the glass and keep their team from getting easy second chances. We also have to play great defense overall and execute on the offensive side of the ball.”

Johnstown (22-1) is led by a core of juniors including leading scorer Quentin Brandon, who averages 15.1 points a game.

The other Trojan starters are Dwight Andrews, Alkwan Williams and Isaiah Haselrig and sophomore Philip Madison. Seniors Calvin Anderson, Nate Nickel and Shon Brantley will also see action against the Titans.

Four other boys games involving area teams, all in Class A, are also on the schedule of first-round games Friday night:

n District 6 champion Bishop Carroll

(14-12) faces DuBois Central Catholic

(19-7), the third-seeded team in District 9 in the first game of a tripleheader at Central Cambria set to get underway at 5.

The Cardinals leading scorer is 6-foot-2 senior forward Chris Marshall, who provides 15.4 points a game.

Bishop Carroll, which defeated Northern Cambria 56-46 in the district championship, has four seniors in the starting rotation including leading scorer Dylan Link (11.8 ppg), Nick Lassak (10.3 ppg), Marc Maruca (8.0 ppg) and Curt Panick

(7.4 ppg).

The other starter is junior Ryan Lauer with help off the bench which includes seniors Ryan Woo, Danny Weinzierl and Vinnie Tranquillo.

n District 5 champ Southern Fulton

(21-4) will face District 6 third seed Conemaugh Valley (16-10) in a 7:30 contest at the Pitt-Johnstown Sports Center.

The Indians upset top-seeded Shade

51-38 in the district title game led by

15 points and 10 rebounds from senior Ryan Harper and 12 points from junior Seth Hall.

The Blue Jays overcame a seven-point deficit to defeat Juniata Valley 48-44 for consolation honors.

Junior Dalton Uncapher, the Blue Jays lone returning starter from last season, led the way with 21 points and 11 rebounds against the Hornets. Junior Hunter Furman, the team’s second-leading scorer, added 14 points for Conemaugh Valley.

The rest of the starting lineup for the Jays includes juniors Brandon Kendera, Ryan Graham and Jake Roberts.

n District 9 runner-up Union Rimersburg (16-7) will take on Northern Cambria (16-10), the District 6 second-place team, in a 7 p.m. matchup at Keystone High School in Knox. The Knights lost to Elk County Catholic in the District 9 championship.

Brody Pollock is Union’s top scorer, averaging 20 points per game.

The Colts, who lost to Bishop Carroll

56-46 in the district title game, are led in scoring by senior Tony Rocco, who averages 11.8 points per game. Sophomore Jeff Hogan leads the team in rebounds and is joined in the starting lineup by seniors Andy Hancharik and Joel Polites along with sophomore Adam Polites.

n District 5 runner-up Shade (23-3) will play District 7-3 Clairton (12-11) at Gateway High School in Monroeville at 7:30.

The Panthers were top-ranked in the district, but were stunned by Southern Fulton 51-38 in the clash for the crown.

Senior Kenny Gibbons had 18 points in the title game, just below his team-high average of 21 points a game for the Panthers.

The remaining starters are seniors M.J. Knapp, Nic Kephart and Brett Hart along with sophomore guard Ryan Fyock.

The Bears, who started the season 3-10, lost 69-54 to eventual WPIAL champ Vincentian Academy in the semifinals.