It's another busy week for fall sports. Here are some storylines to watch in sports other than football.
The WPIAL girls golf championships are scheduled for Diamond Run Golf Club in Sewickley on Wednesday, and several local golfers are strong contenders to take home WPIAL gold.
In the Class 2A championship, defending champion Tatum McKelvey (Sewickley) and 2016 champion Kiaira Porter (Central Valley) are two of the favorites. Zoe Luther (Sewickley) is also in the 12-member field.
For the Class 3A championship, Moon sophomore Rhianna Firmstone posted one of the better qualifying scores and should be in the mix of contenders. Blackhawk's Sierra Richard and West Allegheny's Haley Kozel also qualified for the final. Class 3A tees off beginning at 8:30 a.m., while Class 2A will tee off around 10 a.m.
Meanwhile, Moon's Nathan Schachner and Blackhawk's Ryan Robinson will take part in the WPIAL Class 3A championship at fabled Oakmont Country Club on Tuesday. Schachner and Robinson were the only local boys to qualify for the final round out of the semifinals.
As the PIHL season gets underway this week, one champion is guaranteed not to repeat. Moon will not defend its Division 2 title, as the Tigers moved out of the co-op division and will have a pure team this season. Moon is now in the Class 2A division in a group that includes Class 2A runner-up Quaker Valley and defending champion Armstrong. Moon and Quaker Valley open the season against each other on Monday at the Baierl Ice Complex at 7 p.m.
Elsewhere in the PIHL, Beaver, Blackhawk, West Allegheny and Sewickley will all compete in the Class A division in 2018-19. West Allegheny and Sewickley will open the season against each other on Monday at the Island Sports Center at 9:15 p.m. On Thursday, Beaver will host Deer Lakes at Brady's Run on Thursday at 6:45 p.m. and Blackhawk will travel to Freeport's Belmont Complex at 8:20 p.m. Central Valley, which is in Division 2, opens the season on Thursday at 8:45 p.m. against McDowell at Brady's Run.
While the Freedom girls soccer team has a firm grip on first place in Section 3-1A, the tussle for playoff positioning behind the Bulldogs has been intense. It'll only get more interesting this week.
Mohawk, OLSH, Riverside, Quigley and South Side are all in the mix for the three other playoff spots. All five schools are within a game of each other in the standings, though some of them have played more games than others. With a bunch of games between the group this week, we might have some clarity to the playoff picture by the time the dust settles next weekend.
Quigley will have the most significant opportunity to make a move, as it hosts OLSH on Monday and Riverside on Wednesday before playing at South Side on Saturday. After playing the Spartans on Monday, OLSH hosts South Side on Wednesday before traveling to Mohawk on Saturday. And besides playing Quigley on Wednesday, Riverside will host Mohawk on Monday.