By Matt Smith
For the third time in four years, the Springfield girls basketball team is the top seed in the District 1 Class 5A tournament.
District tournament brackets for all six PIAA classifications were revealed Sunday, but do not become official until noon on Monday.
No. 16 Interboro (10-12), which took third place in the Del Val League, travels to Springfield Tuesday, Feb. 18.
The Cougars (18-4) are in the semifinal round of the Central League playoffs, which resume Monday night. Springfield plays Harriton, which earned the 12th seed in the district tournament. The Central League championship game is scheduled for Tuesday.
Elsewhere in Class 5A, Del Val champion Penn Wood (18-4) is the second seed and will host No. 15 Marple Newtown (9-13).
The Del Val runner-up, Academy Park (12-10), is 13th seed and will hit the road to play No. 4 Villa Maria, which is coming off a loss Saturday in the semifinal round of the Catholic Academies League tournament.
After bowing in the Central League quarterfinals Saturday, Radnor (14-9) gotthe 10th seed and will travel to No. 7 Bishop Shanahan (15-7). The Eagles narrowly missed qualified for the Ches-Mont League playoffs.
Six teams from the Class 5A playoffs qualify for the PIAA tournament.
In Class 6A, Ridley and Garnet Valley received firstround byes as the sixth and seventh seeds, respectively. In second-round games next Wednesday, Feb. 18, Ridley (19-3) plays the winner of No. 22 Council Rock South and No. 11 Central Bucks East, while Garnet Valley takes on either No. 23 Boyertown or 10th-seededNorth Penn. In the meantime, Ridley plays No. 16 Haverford (15-8)in the CentralLeague semis Monday. The
Fords host 17th-seeded Unionville Friday or Saturday. Haverford has a regular season win over Unionville.
Lastly in 6A, Upper Darby (10-12) earned the 24th and final seed in the tournament and will travel to No. 9 Downingtown East this weekend.
Eleven teams in Class 6A qualify for the PIAA tournament.
The Class 2A features four teams including No. 1 Sacred Heart (6-16) and No. 4 Delco Christian (5-17), who meet in the semifinals Wednesday, Feb. 19. One teams qualifies for states.
In Class A, Chester Charter Scholar Academy is the third seed and plays No. 2 Faith Christian Saturday, Feb. 22. Even with a loss, Chester Charter has already qualified for the PIAA tournament. This was the case last year for the Sabers when they lost to The Christian Academy in the first district playoff game in program history. Four of the five Class A teams advance to the state tourney.