The year 2025 in WPIAL sports saw a lot of history and unusual happenings that kept all three sports seasons exciting.
In our year end tradition, Trib HSSN winds down the year with a daily countdown and a look back at the top 25 WPIAL stories from 2025.
It was all about the winners in this countdown with some schools adding to past glory, others making history with wins or title game appearances, and one school doing its own spring cleaning of district gold.
Join us all week as we look back at the moments that stood out in a fun-filled high school sports ride throughout the last year.
Here is a look at district stories No. 20 through No. 16.
No. 20 – Again and again and again and again
Heading into the decade, the WPIAL record for most consecutive football championship meetings between two schools was three.
The only time that happened was between 2013-15 when South Fayette and Aliquippa clashed three straight years.
The Lions won back-to-back gold in 2013 and ’14 by scores of 34-28 and 31-22, while the Quips were back in the winner’s circle after beating SF, 44-38.
This fall, Peters Township and Pine-Richland tied that mark when they met again in the Class 5A title game.
The Indians won 43-17 in 2023, the Rams claimed victory 20-9 in 2024, before the two put on an instant classic last month with Peters edging P-R, 20-19.
However, the new record of four years in a row was set this season with Central Catholic and North Allegheny clashing for a fourth straight year to determine the champ in Class 6A.
The Tigers won back-to-back district crowns by beating the Vikings, 35-21 in 2022 and 44-41 in 2023.
Central captured two straight over NA, 45-14 in 2024, and 42-7 this season.
Nobody would be stunned if the 2026 finals pitted Central Catholic against North Allegheny for a fifth straight year.
No. 19 – Making space in the trophy case
When it comes to championships, the two most successful football programs in WPIAL history had to shuffle things around in their trophy case to make more space.
Both Aliquippa and Clairton added to their collections with championship runs in 2025.
The Quips were a No. 7 seed in the eight-team Class 4A playoffs, yet still captured their fourth title in the last five years with an upset of top-seeded McKeesport in the finals.
The Bears were not the favorite either entering the Class A playoffs as the No. 2 seed, but they held on to edge Laurel in the finals.
For the Quips, it was championship No. 21, while the Bears sit alone in second place after winning their 15th district title.
No. 18 – A return to state gold
It was a rough year in 2024 for WPIAL teams in the PIAA postseason on both the gridiron and the pitch.
For only the second time in the 37-year history of the state football playoffs and first time since 1992, a District 7 team did not win a PIAA championship.
In soccer, no WPIAL teams captured PIAA gold for a second straight year.
It marked only the sixth time this century on the boys’ side, and the district girls soccer teams came up empty in the state playoffs for the first time since 2018.
That all changed in 2025 as four teams — Avonworth and Clairton football, Bentworth boys soccer and South Fayette girls soccer — captured state crowns.
No. 17 – Bearcats rare trifecta
Winning a WPIAL championship three years in a row is not easy in any sport.
In girls soccer, it has been done twice since 2019, by Mars in 3A from 2019-21, and by Avonworth in 2A between 2021-23.
However on the boys’ side, it was nearly three and a half decades since the last time it happened, until this fall.
Following district title runs in 2023 and 2024, top-seeded Bentworth made it a three-peat with a 3-1 victory over previously undefeated Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
The Bearcats became the first boys soccer team to win three district championships in a row since Quaker Valley from 1991-93.
No. 16 – Titanic spring sweep
This past spring produced six sensational days for Shaler.
It was a golden performance by three Shaler programs that will make it easy to remember the Titans.
Between May 24-29, Shaler won WPIAL championships in boys volleyball, baseball and softball.
The run of gold began in boys volleyball when top-seeded Shaler blanked Ambridge for a third straight district crown.
Then the diamond sports won extra-innings stunners as the baseball team defeated No. 1 Pine-Richland in eight innings and, two days later, the softball team outlasted top-seeded Penn-Trafford in 11 innings.