Mike Vukovcan It’s hard to believe that this is the last regular season of the 2025 WPIAL high school football season.
The good news is that Hopewell (6-3) is still alive to receive an automatic bid to the AAA playoff field.
This Friday’s game at Tony Dorsett Stadium is a big one for both Hopewell and their opponent, North Catholic. Both teams are looking to earn that 3rd and final automatic spot from their section.
Here’s the scenario for Hopewell to make the playoffs for the first time since 2012:
-Beat North Catholic by 6 points
-Need Beaver to lose to unbeaten Avonworth
If those two things happen, the Vikings will lock up the final automatic spot.
The reason I’ve used the word automatic is because the WPIAL will select 3 wild card teams from Class 3A. The prevailing, although not certain, thought is that the Western Hills Conference in which Hopewell is a member of, will receive 2 of the 3 bids because of its overall strength from top to bottom. Avonworth and Central Valley have already qualified, with North Catholic, Beaver and Hopewell still in contention.
If Hopewell were to lose Friday night, a scenario that I’m hearing is that Beaver will receive the No. 1 wild card spot, Hopewell would receive the No. 2 wild card spot with either Derry or Mt. Pleasant receiving the final one. Once again, that is not official, it’s just talk that’s circulating.
Coach Mottes and his team would rather take care of business on their own and not have to worry about waiting around to find out if they are selected by the committee.
But to do that, they’ll need to beat a good North Catholic team, which also enters the final week with a record of 6-3. After starting out the season 5-0 with wins over Seton LaSalle, Knoch, Blackhawk, Quaker Valley and McGuffey, NC has lost 3 of their last 4 games (Imani Christian, Central Valley and Avonworth with the win coming against Beaver in overtime.
A few things that standout to me in regard to North Catholic’s schedule:
*Only lost to Imani Christian, which is the consensus No. 2 ranked team in AAA, 36-16.
*Defeated Beaver, 49-42 in OT.
*Only lost to Central Valley, 34-28. Â
The bottom line is that in the end, the outcome of this game will likely come down to the two teams’ quarterbacks, which are very talented. North Catholic is led by senior Joey Felitsky, while the Vikings are led by sophomore James Armstrong.
North Catholic likes to and will no doubt throw the football; can Hopewell’s defense slow them down? The million-dollar question for Hopewell will be the health of Armstrong, who was severely limited this past Friday. Will Armstrong have any sort of mobility against North Catholic?
