It is only the third week of the WPIAL football season, but for the second time, there is a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup.

Beaver Falls plays at Aliquippa in a highly anticipated matchup that will be televised live as part of FSN Pittsburgh's Thursday night game of the week. Kickoff is 7 p.m.

Aliquippa is the Post-Gazette's No. 1-ranked Class AA team in both the WPIAL and PIAA. Beaver Falls is ranked No. 2 in both.

"A lot of times, you get a season that builds into a crescendo, where you end up with a lot of chips on the line late in the season," Beaver Falls coach Ryan Matsook said. "It's a little different in Double-A because we're playing conference games right from the first week."

Teams in the other three WPIAL classifications play non-conference games for at least the first two weeks of the season. But Class AA has three conferences with 10 teams and one with nine. The regular season is nine weeks long, so Class AA must start conference play the first week.

"I don't mind this type of game this early," Matsook said. "I kind of feel lucky in a sense because I get to find out where we're really at in week three. We'll know early what we need to correct."

Aliquippa and Beaver Falls have played some memorable basketball games in recent years, and the rivalry seems to have carried over into football. Last year, Aliquippa defeated Beaver Falls, 33-27.

"You can downplay this game all you want as a coach, but the communities really get behind it and get pumped up," Matsook said.

"But the bottom line is that it's just another conference game. With that being said, we'd love to win this game because it would be a feather in our cap."

Monessen came into the season with high hopes and was ranked No. 4 in WPIAL Class A by the Post-Gazette. But the Greyhounds are 0-2 after losing to the top two ranked teams in Class A -- Rochester and Clairton.

Monessen has yet to score a point and the 44-0 loss to Clairton Friday tied for the fourth-worst in Monessen's long history. The only worse losses were 58-0 to Greensburg in 1913, 49-0 to Mt. Lebanon in 1979 and 51-6 to Thomas Jefferson, also in 1979. Monessen also lost, 44-0, to Connellsville in 1913.

With Derry Area breaking its 25-game losing streak Friday with a win against West Mifflin, Avella now has the longest losing streak in the WPIAL at 20 games.

The longest losing streak in the state ended Friday when Western Wayne defeated Susquehanna Community, 21-6. Western Wayne had lost 41 in a row.

• Three of the top five teams in last week's PIAA Class AAA rankings lost -- West Scranton, Montour and Lansdale Catholic. All three dropped out of the top five.

• Returns are in at Quakertown. The team returned three interceptions for touchdowns in a 31-22 victory against Upper Merion. The returns were 45, 58 and 17 yards.

• How's this for a matchup of quarterbacks with good bloodlines? In California Friday night, Oaks Christian quarterback Nick Montana, son of Hall of Famer Joe Montana, completed 7 of 12 passes for 131 yards in a 35-7 victory against Bakersfield Christian. Derek Carr, brother of NFL quarterback David Carr, completed 23 of 44 for 229 yards.

Besides Montana's son, Oaks Christian also has sons of Wayne Gretzky and actor Will Smith.