2011 WPIAL Year in Review – Top 25 Stories: #5 – #1

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, December 31, 2011 | 1:40 PM

2011 has been a tremendous year in high school sports in the WPIAL. It was a year where some familiar champions wore the golden crown again while some new faces surfaced in the championship picture. It was a year when there was plenty of streaking (not like the 70’s) in both the good direction and the not so good direction. It was a year in which we welcomed some while sadly saying so long to others. Over the final few days of 2011, we here at the MSA Sports Network (who once again were there for it all) count down the Top 25 stories from around the WPIAL sports scene starting with #5 through #1.

#5 – CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY THRILLS

It is the Super Bowl of WPIAL football…times four!  There is always a lot of buildup on the Highway to Heinz for the four championship games played on the North Shore home of the Pitt Panthers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Usually you get one or two great games or special moments from the four title games. But this year was different as each game delivered in one way or another on a mild afternoon/evening in late November. Clairton became only the second school in WPIAL history to win a fourth staright district football championship with an impressive 42-6 rout over a very talented Sto-Rox team, keeping the Bears chase for the WPIAL win streak record alive. Then, 'The Drive' late in the Class AA struggle between two storied programs, Aliquippa and Jeannette.  Trailing the Jayhawks by one point, the Quips drove 96 yards on 10 plays with 3:01 left and no time outs left, capped by a Mikal Hall to Devon Walker 11-yard scoring pass with less than a half minute remaining  to give Aliquippa their record 14th WPIAL championship with a 14-7 victory over Jeannette. In the Class AAA title game, Montour captured its first football championship in 47 years with a 42-14 rout of the Knoch Knights played in front of a huge crowd of fans, most of who came south id droves from Saxonburg to see the Knights in their first game ever at Heinz Field. Then the day was capped off with a thrilling overtime clash between defending champion North Allegheny and Upper St. Clair. Regulation ended with the score tied 21-21 and the crowd a buzz about an obvious missed call that led directly to a NA first half touchdown. The Tigers had the ball first in OT and scored quickly on a Mack Leftwich one-yard plunge. USC did not come close to scoring on their four plays from the 10-yard line after losing yards on first and second down. The Panthers, playing without starting quarterback and linebacker Dakota Conwell (except for a handful of plays each half) played their hearts out, but became NA's 20th consecutive victim, putting the finishing touches on a memorable Super Saturday.

#4 – GATEWAY SHOOTING TRAGEDY

Students, administrators and football coaches at Gateway High School had heavy hearts throughout the 2011 football season after the second-leading tackler on Gateway's football team from 2010 was killed in a shooting in Durham, North Carolina back in June. Darrell Turner, who would have been a senior in the fall, was killed and junior quarterback Thomas Woodson shot in the leg in an incident near a hotel in Durham. Woodson's injuries were not life-threatening and he was able to play for the Gators in the fall. Police arrested 22-year old Gabriel James Gamez and charged him with with murder and with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury. "Darrell was a very likeable kid," said Gateway school principal Bill Short. "He was a very hard-working kid." Turner and Woodson were staying in Durham while on their way to a 7-on-7 tournament in Bradenton, Florida. They were members of a local all-star team that plays in 7-on-7 tournaments. The team included a few other Gateway players as well as some other top players in the WPIAL.

#3 – PIAA DOES NOT SHORTEN FOOTBALL SEASON

Forget about a shorter football season next year. PIAA administrators had come up with a plan that would take a week out of football season, starting in 2012. Under the plan, the season would go from 16 to 15 weeks and the PIAA championships would be played a week earlier, and not one week before Christmas. The plan easily passed two votes by the PIAA Board of Control. It needed to pass one more vote, but the proposal was defeated, 16-10 two weeks ago. It was passed, 29-1, by the same board earlier this year. Pennsylvania is one of the few states in the country still playing football a week before Christmas. The others are California, Florida and Texas. But that doesn’t seem to matter to some PIAA Board of Control members. The WPIAL was in favor of the 15-week season. It would not affect the league’s playoffs. PIAA Executive Director Brad Cashman also strongly backed taking a week out of the season. But some Board of Control members changed their votes. "There may be some board members who just don’t realized this is really making the [PIAA] organization look like they can’t make the right decision," Cashman said. "Some people think it might be the right decisions. But my opinion is that the right decision is to go to 15 weeks."

#2 – THE GREAT RUSHEL SHELL SETS THE RUSHING BAR

Rushel Shell scored on a 55-yard run the very first time in touched the ball as a freshman running back four years ago. He soon became Hopewell’s No. 1 halfback midway through his freshman season. Before his great scholastic career would end, he became Pennsylvania’s all-time leading rusher midway through the final game of his senior season. Shell set WPIAL and Pennsylvania records for career rushing yards with 9,078 yards on 1,107 attempts. He also set what is believed to be a WPIAL record with 110 career touchdowns. And maybe the most impressive part of Shell’s resume is that he set a national record for consecutive 100-yard games with 39, breaking the old mark of 38, held by Billy Sims, who went on to win a Heisman Trophy. The Pitt recruit had 25 200-yard games in his four years, and averaged 206.3 yards rushing in 44 career games. This past season, Shell rushed for 2,312 yards on 311 attempts and helped Hopewell reach the WPIAL Class AAA Quarterfinals.

#1 – THE GOLDEN BEARS STREAK CONTINUES

Much like Rushel Shell, you run out of superlatives to describe what the Clairton Bears have been able to do the last four years. They were undefeated in Black Hills Conference play, winning four straight conference titles. They became only the second team in WPIAL history to win four consecutive district championships. The became the first Western team to qualify for a fourth straight PIAA championship game and they became the first WPIAL school to even win three straight PIAA state football crowns. Oh yeah, and their four year record is a jaw-dropping 62-2. Those two losses came in back-to-back outings. Clairton lost to Steelton-Highspire 35-16 in the PIAA Class A title game on December 12, 2008 and then lost their 2009 season opener 15-8 to Laurel. The Bears haven't lost since, winning 47 games in a row, breaking the previous WPIAL longest winning streak of 46 straight win set by the great Braddock teams of the mid to late 50's. Another record was also set these past four years as Carvan Thompson started every game in his steller career at Clairton…64 consecutive starts. A string that could someday be tied if a player can start every game of his high school career AND his team can make it all the way to the state title game every year by playing the maximum of 16 games. Its a record that can never be broken. Oh by the way, the Clairton Bears will be ranked #1 in Class A to start the 2012 season and will have high expectations to continue their record breaking golden ways.

Tags: Aliquippa, Clairton, Gateway, Hopewell, Jeannette, Knoch, Upper St. Clair