5 things we learned in Week 5 of H.S. football: Clairton’s 66-game streak is safe

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, October 2, 2021 | 5:45 PM

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The Wyomissing football team might have a thank you gift headed its way with a Clairton postmark on the package. Suddenly, the Bears are huge fans of the high school near Reading.

That’s because Southern Columbia was one win away from tying Clairton’s state-record winning streak of 66 games when Wyomissing defeated Southern Columbia, 41-21, on Friday.

So, Clairton’s streak stands alone.

“I might get with the AD and see if we can send them something,” Clairton coach Wayne Wade said.

Southern Columbia is a four-time defending PIAA champion and hadn’t lost a game since falling to Steel Valley in the 2016 state finals — a string of 65 wins in a row. Wade said he and the Bears were following along in recent weeks as that streak inched closer to theirs.

Clairton won 66 in a row from 2009-13.

“We were taking a look,” said Wade, who was an assistant coach during the Bears’ record-setting streak. “We had mentioned it a few weeks ago. (Southern Columbia) had a game where they were down 24-3 or something like that at halftime and ended up coming back.

“So, just looking at the schedule, we’d seen Wyomissing there, knew they had a great team this year, and thought they could possibly stop them. And they did.”

Wyomissing entered this weekend ranked second in Class 3A according to Trib HSSN state rankings. The Spartans were the state runners-up last season to Central Valley.

Southern Columbia is ranked first in Class 2A.

Wade said seeing Clairton’s record continue to stand will surely mean the most to the players who took part to the streak including Tyler Boyd, now a receiver with the Cincinnati Bengals.

“It’s kind of theirs,” Wade said. “Probably talking to Tyler and Titus (Howard) and those guys, they’re probably more proud of being able to keep the streak because they’re the ones who are going to be remembered for it.”

Wyomissing and Southern Columbia are in different PIAA districts. The schools scheduled a home-and-home series for last season and this season, but their would-be meeting a year ago was canceled in the pandemic.

The longest active winning streak in the state now belongs to Central Valley at 18.

Another streak ends

Ambridge also was relieved to see a streak end Friday night.

The team snapped what was the WPIAL’s longest-active losing streak at 28 games with a 35-9 victory at Hopewell in the conference opener. Adam Fernandez scored two special teams touchdowns on a 60-yard punt return and an 81-yard kickoff return.

The win was Ambridge’s first since defeating Waynesburg, 14-0, on Sept. 7, 2018.

Yet, the program’s recent struggles go back farther. Friday’s win was only the second in 52 games, extending back to 2015. The Bridgers are trying to turn their fortunes around under first-year coach Sherman McBride, a former longtime Aliquippa assistant.

The team is 1-5 overall but 1-0 in the Class 3A Northwest Six.

‘He’s the real deal’

Steel Valley has produced an abundance of good running backs in recent years. One celebrated a WPIAL rushing title just three seasons ago, and the Ironmen soon might have another.

Running back Nijhay Burt rushed for 277 yards Friday night, putting him atop the WPIAL stat leaders with 1,053 yards in five games. The 5-foot-11, 165-pound senior also has scored 18 touchdowns.

“One thing about Burt: He’s the real deal,” coach Ray Braszo said. “He’s fast. He’s tough. He plays hard. He’s a winner. You can’t make any complaints about him.”

Burt reached the end zone five times in Friday’s 40-0 win over Ligonier Valley. Steel Valley is enjoying a resurgence this fall and Burt is a big part of that success. Friday’s 200-yard performance was his third this year. He has scored at least two touchdowns in every game and twice scored five.

His game-by-game yardage totals are 123, 171, 285, 200 and now 277 yards.

“He’s a good football player,” Braszo said. “He makes us go, definitely.”

The Ironmen are 5-0 after going 1-5 in a pandemic-shortened season last fall. The team had hoped for better days this year after relying on many underclassmen in 2020. Braszo, a former longtime West Mifflin coach, is in his third season back at Steel Valley where he started his coaching career.

“We had a young team last year,” he said. “A lot of them got to play. They came in and worked hard. They see what it takes to win some games, but it’s still a work in progress.”

Steel Valley’s Kameron Williams led WPIAL rushers with 2,020 yards in 2018.

Leopards see 3-headed monster

Belle Vernon sophomore Jake Gedekoh made the most of his spot start by rushing for 247 yards and five touchdowns, but his coach predicts that won’t be the last the sophomore shines.

“He’s a special kid,” coach Matt Humbert said after Gedekoh handled 23 carries in a 56-14 win over Laurel Highlands.

Gedekoh, called a “Swiss Army knife” by his coach, also plays fullback and tight end. He took on a lead-back role Friday with teammate Quinton Martin injured.

Martin was cleared to resume practice this coming week.

“If we can get ‘Q’ back, that’s really the one-, two-, three-(headed) monster we’re kind of looking for,” Humbert said of Gedekoh, Martin and quarterback Devin Whitlock. “He proved tonight that he can do it.”

Gedekoh had only 12 carries in the team’s first four games.

A week for firsts

The WPIAL regular season had already crossed the midway point but eight teams celebrated a first on Friday.

Four celebrated their first win of the season: Ambridge, Baldwin, Riverside and Shenango. Four others took their first loss: Bishop Canevin, Kiski Area, Laurel Highlands and Ligonier Valley.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.