Jack McCurry was frustrated when he saw the WPIAL Class AAAA playoff bracket had McKeesport seeded ahead of his North Hills Indians.

"We were a conference champion with an 8-1 record," said McCurry, who has been coaching at North Hills for 31 years. "A team that finished second in its conference with a 7-2 record shouldn't be seeded in front of us."

McCurry had no problem with the top two seeds -- Gateway (9-0) and Bethel Park (9-0) -- since both finished the regular season unbeaten. He couldn't understand how McKeesport was seeded third and North Hills fourth.

"I hate to see the subjective nature of how it's done," McCurry said. "Especially since our only loss came in the closing seconds to the No. 2 seed. We didn't play McKeesport, so I don't see how they could have seeded them ahead of us. It's unfair to my kids."

And McCurry felt he was not the only team that had a reason to be upset.

"There's no way they seeded this bracket from 1 through 16," McCurry said. "I don't know how they determined that. They haven't watched as much film as film as the coaches have. How can they determine who has a better team."

McCurry has an easy solution for the WPIAL Football Steering Committee.

"The way to solve this problem is to have a pre-determined bracket before the season begins," McCurry said. "Have the top finisher from each conference face a fourth-place finisher from another conference, and have the second- and third-place finishers play each other.

"With that setup you would know ahead of time which conference you were facing, so you could do some scouting before the pairings meeting. We could also rotate the brackets, so that you don't face the same conference every year. It could be that easy."

As the No. 4 seed, North Hills was paired with Fox Chapel in tomorrow's first round of the WPIAL playoffs. The No. 13 seeded Foxes placed fourth in Big East Conference with an overall record of 4-5. North Hills won the Northern Six Conference.

"This is only our second WPIAL playoff appearance in 10 years," Fox Chapel coach Bryan Deal said. "Our last time in the playoffs was 2002. It's also the last time we played North Hills. They beat us [27-12] in the first round that year."

Deal was not coaching when the Foxes made their last appearance at North Hills' Martorelli Stadium, but he's looking forward to the challenge.

"Jack [McCurry] is the architect of one of the most successful programs in Western Pennsylvania football history," Deal said. "And they won a very strong conference. It's a big challenge and a huge step for our program. We're really looking forward to it."

Fox Chapel won four of its first six games, but ended the season with a three-game losing streak.

"We finished the season with games against Woodland Hills, Penn Hills and Central Catholic," Deal, said of the teams that placed ahead of Fox Chapel in the Big East Conference standings.

"Now we have to face the Northern Six Conference champions. It's been a real grind for the kids coming down the stretch."

Deal is happy that Fox Chapel's fans don't have to travel far for Friday's first-round showdown.

"It's only a 25-minute drive, so I'm expecting our fans to make a good showing," Deal said. "And I'm sure North Hills will have a good crowd."

Neither coach knew much about the opposing team and began breaking down tape immediately after the pairings meeting.

"One of our strongest points is preparation," McCurry said. "It's hard to prepare for a game when you don't know who your opponent is until Monday night. I don't know why they couldn't have the meeting on Sunday. It would give everybody an extra day of preparation."

Deal is familiar with North Hills' quarterback Justin Heinauer, the son of Mars coach Scott Heinauer.

"It's always a concern when your facing the son of a head coach," Deal said. "He's a very smart quarterback who has a good arm and the ability to scramble."

McCurry is concerned with defending against Fox Chapel's spread offense.

"They throw the ball a lot, but we faced an offense like theirs earlier in the season," McCurry said. "Seneca Valley ran the same offense."

The winner of the North Hills-Fox Chapel game will face the winner of the game between Penn Hills and Pine-Richland.The game

• What: North Hills (8-1) vs. Fox Chapel (4-5).

• When: 7:30 p.m. tomorrow.

• Where: Martorelli Stadium, West View.

• The skinny: North Hills is seeded No. 4 in Class AAAA for the WPIAL playoffs, while Fox Chapel comes into the postseason on a three-game losing streak.