Mike Vukovcan With the temperatures dropping, leaves falling, doesn’t it feel like football weather?
That will certainly be the feel on Friday night at Tony Dorsett Stadium as temperatures are forecasted to be in the low 40’s when Hopewell hosts North Catholic in the final regular season game of the 2025 high school football season.
This isn’t just the last game of the regular season; it’s a meaningful game for the Vikings as they hope to advance to the WPIAL playoffs for the first time since 2012.
In his first season last year, Coach Mottes’ program missed out by one game and are hoping to reverse that this weekend with a win over North Catholic. Technically, in order to qualify, Hopewell needs to beat North Catholic by at least 6 points AND have Avonworth defeat Beaver.
However, Hopewell does have another route in order to qualify and that would be to receive one of the 3 Wild Card spots that will be given out to teams in Class 3A.
As VSN has been telling you about for weeks, because of their strong non-conference results along with playing in the toughest section in 3A, Hopewell is believed to have an excellent shot to receive one of those 3 bids if they don’t qualify automatically.
This morning, a few different outlets made WPIAL playoffs predictions and all selected Hopewell to receive a bid with the prediction that North Catholic will beat the Vikings on Friday.
The most credible source came from WPIAL Hall of Fame broadcaster Don Rebel, who’s been covering WPIAL Sports for 37 years.
Class 3A
Don Rebel’s bracket
No. 1 Avonworth – bye
No. 9 Derry at No. 8 Freeport
No. 4 Central Valley – bye
No. 12 Burrell at No. 5 North Catholic
No. 2 Imani Christian – bye
No. 10 Beaver at No. 7 Southmoreland
No. 3 Elizabeth Forward – bye
No. 11 Hopewell at No. 6 Highlands
Rebel says:Â The big game in Week 9 for this bracket is North Catholic at Hopewell, although I believe both will make the playoffs since I have two of the three wild card teams coming from the strong Western Hills Conference. There are five undefeated teams in the WPIAL heading into Week 9 and two are in Class 3A
His co-worker at the Pgh Tribune Review, Chris Harlan, also laid out his bracket.
Chris Harlan’s bracket
No. 1 Avonworth – bye
No. 9 Beaver at No. 8 Freeport
No. 4 Central Valley – bye
No. 12 Mt. Pleasant at No. 5 North Catholic
No. 2 Imani Christian – bye
No. 10 Hopewell at No. 7 Southmoreland
No. 3 Elizabeth Forward – bye
No. 11 Derry at No. 6 Highlands
Harlan says: The Western Hills gets five playoffs’ teams. Hopewell narrowly missed the postseason a year ago, but the Vikings should be in good shape already. Southmoreland (8-1) has only one loss, but it was a big one — 42-0 to Elizabeth Forward — dropping the Scotties a few spots here.
One more prediction to let you know about and that came from “The WPIAL Edition” on Twitter. Like Rebel, they have Hopewell as a No. 11 seed.
