High School

Pittsburgh high school football team wins playoff with just 11 players

Westinghouse high had 39 players suspended after a brawl with University Prep last week
Gary Adornato|
Despite dressing just 11 players due to suspensions, the Westinghouse Bulldogs' blew out Perry Traditional Academy, 68-0, in a City League semifinal playoff game on Friday.
Despite dressing just 11 players due to suspensions, the Westinghouse Bulldogs' blew out Perry Traditional Academy, 68-0, in a City League semifinal playoff game on Friday. | Brent Gudenschwager/For BCT / USA TODAY NETWORK

Pittsburgh’s Westinghouse High entered Friday’s City League football semifinal playoff game with a major handicap, as 38 of the team’s 49 man roster were suspended following a bench clearing fight during last week’s with University Prep.

That left just 11 players available to dress for Friday’s playoff game against Perry Traditional Academy, with those 11 players having to play every snap of the contest on offense, defense and special teams.

The task did not prove to be too much for the Bulldogs. They overwhelmed Perry Traditional early, building a 60-0 fist half lead on their way to a 68-0 victory.

The suspensions were handed out to players who participated in the fight and those who were identified as leaving the bench, by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA).

According to a report in the Pittsburg-Gazette, the fight broke out with 1:23 remaining in the third quarter and spilled over to the University Prep sideline. Video of the incident showed that several Westinghouse players left the team’s bench area, in violation of PIAA and National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHSAA) rules, and crossed the field. That action comes with an ejection and a one game suspension.

After the fight the game was called and Westinghouse, which was leading 43-6 at the time, was declared the winner.

Union City only had 10 players suspended, but it did not fare as well in the City League playoffs, losing 14-6 to Taylor Allderdice on Thursday. Westinghouse and Taylor Allderdice will meet in next week’s title game.

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Gary Adornato
GARY ADORNATO

Gary Adornato is the Senior VP of Content for High School On SI and SBLive Sports. He began covering high school sports with the Baltimore Sun in 1982, while still a mass communications major at Towson University. In 2003 became one of the first journalists to cover high school sports online while operating MIAASports.com, the official website of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association. Later, Adornato pioneered market-wide coverage of high school sports with DigitalSports.com, introducing video highlights and player interviews while assembling an award-winning editorial staff. In 2010, he launched VarsitySportsNetwork.com which became the premier source of high school media coverage in the state of Maryland. In 2022, he sold VSN to The Baltimore Banner and joined SBLive Sports as the company's East Coast Managing Editor.

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