(File Photo of the WPIAL Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) Five WPIAL quarterbacks have now been nominated as finalists for this year’s Willie Thrower Award, which is given each year to the top high school football quarterback from western Pennsylvania. The five nominees were announced Wednesday and they were selected by a panel of seventy people made up of coaches, media members, and field officials. They were Carson Bellinger of Avonworth, Joey Felitsky of North Catholic, Nolan DiLucia of Peters Township, Aaron Strader of Pine-Richland and Ethan Hellman of Upper St. Clair. The winner of the award named after Willie Thrower, the first Black quarterback to appear in an NFL game for the Chicago Bears in the 1950s, will be announced on March 28th, 2026.