Mike Caputo rushed for 174 yards on 30 carries and scored three touchdowns to lead West Allegheny to a 31-7 victory against New Castle in the WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinals last night at North Allegheny High School.

The victory earns West Allegheny its first semifinal berth since 2005. The fourth-seeded Indians (9-2) will face top-seed Thomas Jefferson in the semifinals next week at a site to be determined.

Caputo, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound junior tailback, opened the scoring with a 3-yard run with 6 seconds left in the first quarter.

New Castle (8-3) tied the score at 7-7 with a 24-yard touchdown pass from John Matarazzo to Justin Fleo with 1:34 left in the first half.

West Allegheny regained the lead with eight seconds left in the half with a 7-yard run by Caputo. The Indians scored three more times in the second half.

West Allegheny increased its lead to 21-7 with a 41-yard scoring strike from Jared Buck to Aaron McKinney with 7:08 left in the third quarter.

Caputo scored his third touchdown on a 1-yard dive with 3:07 left in the third quarter. Aaron Fleck capped the scoring for the Indians with a 42-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

West Allegheny had 418 yards in total offense, including 216 on the ground. Buck completed 10 of 17 passes for 202 yards.

The top-seeded and unbeaten Jaguars (11-0) earned their 12th consecutive trip to the Class AAA semifinals with a victory against the eighth-seeded Panthers.

Thomas Jefferson has won three consecutive WPIAL titles.

The Jaguars were led by Dylan Breisinger and T.J. Matrascia, who each rushed for 89 yards, and Sam Johnston, who threw for 165 yards.

Breisinger carried the ball four times and scored on runs of 21 and 61 yards. Matriscia carried the ball 20 times and scored on a 6-yard run.

Johnston completed 12 of 30 passes and connected with Jimmy Giansante on a 6-yard scoring strike.

Franklin Regional (8-3) was led by tailback Chad Bowman, who rushed for 117 yards on 24 carries and scored on a 5-yard run.

The Talbots became the first team in school history to qualify for the WPIAL semifinals with an upset of the sixth-seeded Red Raiders in a quarterfinal game played at Yough High School.

Hampton led 21-0 at the half and built its lead to 35-0 before Uniontown scored twice in the fourth quarter.

It was the second consecutive upset for the 14th-seeded Talbots (7-4), as they knocked off No. 3 seed Chartiers Valley last week in the first round.

Andrew Bly led the Talbots offensive attack with 187 yards on 23 carries. He scored on runs of 2 and 15 yards.

Bill Young, Steve Magister, and Phil Powell also scored touchdowns for Hampton.

Uniontown (7-4) was led by Arnold Walker, who rushed for 85 yards on 17 carries and scored on a 15-yard run.

Hampton will face second-seeded Hopewell in next week's semifinals.

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.