Postseason life is likely on the line when Seton-LaSalle and Steel Valley meet tomorrow night.

The two are tied for fourth in the Class AA Century Conference at 4-2, and it will be nearly impossible for either to overcome loss No. 3 at this point in the season.

Both teams are trying to rebound from losses last week to conference leaders.

Seton-LaSalle rallied late but could not overcome a 21-0 deficit, falling 21-14 to undefeated South Fayette. Sto-Rox scored a last-minute touchdown to knock off Steel Valley, 26-21.

After tomorrow night's 7 p.m. matchup at Chartiers Valley Stadium, the Ironmen and Rebels will each have at least one tough game remaining before the end of the season.

For Steel Valley, it's the undefeated South Fayette Lions, whom the Ironmen will welcome to Campbell Field next week.

Seton-LaSalle will travel to Keystone Oaks (5-1) in the final game of the season. Both teams also will play South Park (3-3) before the end of the regular season.

Seton LaSalle's Anthony Rizza leads the WPIAL with 1,214 passing yards, though he failed to throw a touchdown pass in last week's loss to South Fayette.

A senior, he has thrown 10 touchdown passes this season and could have a field day against a Steel Valley secondary that gave up 234 passing yards last week to Sto Rox quarterback Paul Jones -- another top WPIAL passer.

Steel Valley will rely on running back Delrece Williams, who has 12 touchdowns and is averaging more than 100 yards per game this year.

Southern air

Last week's matchup between Seton-LaSalle and South Fayette featured two prolific quarterbacks in Rizza and South Fayette's Christian Brumbaugh.

Neither disappointed.

Rizza threw for 183 yards and Brumbaugh threw for 174, good enough for the second and third best performances of the week among area quarterbacks. Only Sto-Rox's Jones (234) had a better night.

Though he lost the battle for yards, Brumbaugh got the best of Rizza. Both quarterbacks threw one interception, but Rizza's was returned for a touchdown. That score ended up being the difference in a 21-14 South Fayette win.

Brumbaugh threw the only touchdown pass between the two, but Rizza ran for a score and added 104 rushing yards.

Less is more

As good a night as Brumbaugh and Rizza had, Keystone Oaks quarterback Matt Buckley's feat might be more impressive.

A sophomore, he had 133 passing yards -- on only three completions. That's an average of 44.3 yards per completion. Buckley was buoyed by a 90-yard touchdown pass to Lee Shearn in the first quarter of a 42-3 win over Bishop Canevin.

The Golden Eagles relied on 100-plus-yard rushing nights from Jordan Maddox (140) and Matt McCann (101).

Getting testy

Thomas Jefferson has been nothing short of impressive through the first six weeks of the season.

The Jaguars (6-0, 3-0) have outscored opponents 251-33, an average margin of victory of 36.3 points per game.

But TJ's opponents so far haven't exactly been, uh, presidential material.

The Jaguars' first six opponents have a combined record of 15-22, a .405 winning percentage. Their only opponent with a winning record doesn't even play in the WPIAL: H.D. Woodson High School (4-3) of Washington, D.C.

Now comes the hard part.

Thomas Jefferson, the Post-Gazette's top-ranked Class AAA team in the state, faces its first real test of the season tonight -- a road game against Chartiers Valley (6-0, 4-0), the Post-Gazette's third-ranked WPIAL Class AAA team. The Colts and Jaguars are the only undefeated teams in the Big Seven Conference.

The Jaguars' last three opponents -- Chartiers Valley, Belle Vernon and West Mifflin -- have a combined record of 14-4, a .778 winning percentage.

Bottom line: Most WPIAL observers think Thomas Jefferson is the team to beat in Class AAA. They'll know for sure after these final three weeks.

Puddles and points

Either the rain is getting wetter or the defenses are getting better.

For the second week in a row, WPIAL football teams had to fight through rain in Friday night football contests. And, for the second consecutive week, more WPIAL teams were shut out than in any other week this season.

In 59 WPIAL games Friday night, 19 (32.2 percent) resulted in shutouts -- four more than the previous week.

On rain-free Saturday, every team scored in the four WPIAL games played.

In the first four weeks of the season, an average of 10.0 WPIAL teams were shut out each week.

Unfortunately for WPIAL offenses, an early Weather Channel forecast calls for a 50 percent chance of rain tomorrow night in Western Pennsylvania.

Mike White's "High School Sports Edition" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.