2026 Fish Fry Bracket Champion: Lower Burrell American Legion Post 868

Lower Burrell American Legion Post 868 is the 2026 Greensburg Times Fish Fry Bracket champion.

The Post 868 fish fry outlasted 31 competitors across five rounds of voting, defeating St. Raymond of the Mountains in the championship 683 to 573, a margin of 110 votes, or 54.3% to 45.7%.

The bracket drew 10,522 total votes from 4,208 unique voters across Westmoreland County.

The Road to the Championship

Lower Burrell never trailed. The Legion post won every round from the opening Round of 8 through the title match, building momentum with each week.

In the Clubs quarterfinal, they beat West Newton Moose 63 to 42. The semifinal against Irwin Moose was closer, 264 to 237. The Clubs region final against Export Moose came down to 370 to 360, a 10-vote margin. In the Final Four, Lower Burrell knocked out Millie's Restaurant 567 to 509.

St. Raymond of the Mountains took a different path entirely. The parish entered as one of the lower seeds in the Churches region, squeaking past Faith Methodist by just 2 votes in the quarterfinal, before catching fire. They knocked out St. Bruno Parish in the region final by 42 votes, beat Norvelt VFD in the Final Four by 12, and reached the championship on pure momentum.

Best Storylines of the Bracket

Closest match of the tournament: Madison VFD defeated Youngstown Whitney by a single vote in the quarterfinals, 47 to 46.

Closest region final: Norvelt VFD survived Bovard VFC 410 to 407, a 3-vote margin, to reach the Final Four.

St. Bruno vs. Our Lady of Grace in the Churches semifinal came down to 2 votes, 102 to 100.

Export Moose vs. Export Italian American in the Clubs semifinal was decided by 9 votes, 346 to 337, setting up the tight Clubs region final against Lower Burrell.

Dominant early performers: Keith Heinritz Katering and Millie's both opened with 100 votes in the quarterfinals, the highest totals in the bracket.

Final Four Results

St. Raymond of the Mountains 463, Norvelt VFD 451

Lower Burrell American Legion Post 868 567, Millie's 509

Championship

Lower Burrell American Legion Post 868: 683 votes (54.3%)

St. Raymond of the Mountains: 573 votes (45.7%)

The 2026 Fish Fry Bracket ran from February 27 through April 1, featuring 32 local fish fries across four categories: Fire Halls, Churches, Clubs, and Restaurants. See the full bracket results.