WPIAL Class A championship preview: Defending champion Fort Cherry to be tested by No. 2 Clairton

By: Kyle Dawson
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 | 1:25 PM

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Saturday’s WPIAL Class A championship features a test for both teams the likes of which they’ve yet to see this season when defending champion and top-seeded Fort Cherry takes on No. 2 Clairton at Acrisure Stadium.

On one side, the Clairton Bears have surrendered just 21 points all season. No team has scored more than seven points and only two touchdowns have been scored on the Bears’ lightning-fast defense.

Both came in garbage time of games where the mercy rule had been enacted. Clairton has a young team with talented athletes all over the field. The Bears have at least six defensive players who run a 4.5 or better, and they boast speed up front, in the middle and in the secondary.

The other side features Penn State defensive back commit Matt Sieg, the Rangers’ junior quarterback who can do it all. Last week in the semifinals, Sieg joined elite company, becoming the second WPIAL player to accumulate 4,000 career passing yards and 4,000 career rushing yards.

Jeannette’s Terrelle Pryor ran for 4,238 yards and passed for 4,340 in his illustrious career. Sieg sits just over 4,000 passing yards now at 4,015 and has 6,088 career rushing yards. He’s a junior.

Sieg isn’t the only weapon Fort Cherry possesses. Ryan Huey, Eli Salvini and Christian Yanosko have combined for roughly 1,500 yards on the ground and 17 touchdowns to with Sieg’s 1,700-plus rushing yards and 29 scores. Shane Cornali, Brayden Cook and Evan Rogers have combined for nearly 1,200 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns, with 10 for Cornali.

So what happens when the WPIAL’s version of the Irresistible Force meets the Immovable Object? Fans will find out at 11 a.m. Saturday.

“We’ve definitely faced some very fast teams like Bishop Canevin, Cornell and Monessen,” Fort Cherry coach Tanner Garry said. “The difference in my opinion is Clairton has speed at defensive ends, their nose, whereas a lot of the speed we’ve seen is in the secondary. Speed is such a huge factor in high school football. If you can keep everyone in front of you, other teams have to earn every yard, and Clairton’s great at that.”

Clairton coach Wayne Wade maybe saw this coming a bit, but not this good. The Bears graduated just two players last year. One was Michael Wright, who threw for 1,776 yards and 19 touchdowns a year ago. Clairton has three seniors on the roster this year: WR/OLB Zaemear Correll, RB/S Drahcir Jones and NG Khalil Williams.

“We thought the defense could be lights out this year just because we had so many kids returning. They’re out there having fun and playing fast,” Wade said. “I didn’t expect this many shutouts. Our team speed is where we make up for everything. If guys are doing their jobs and staying to their responsibilities, our speed takes over.”

Sieg presents a unique challenge for the Bears, despite Clairton facing some dual-threat quarterbacks already. But Wade isn’t sleeping on what else Fort Cherry brings to the table.

“We’ll prepare for what Fort Cherry brings to the field, what they like to do and what they’re getting into,” Wade said. “But you can’t really understand our team speed until you play us. Fort Cherry is a championship team. They have a team of kids that play hard and it’s a complete team. They don’t have many weaknesses.”

Clairton’s defense has been great, obviously. The Bears are also averaging 51.8 points per game and have scored at least 43 points in every game besides two: the season opener against Steel Valley and this past week in a 24-0 semifinal win over Bishop Canevin.

Jeff Thompson has thrown for almost 1,900 yards, 26 touchdowns and three picks. Jones has been a bell cow for the Bears, running for 1,362 yards and 23 scores. Mike Ruffin, Taris Wooding, Correll and Donte Wright have combined for the bulk of the receiving work and 21 touchdown receptions.

Fort Cherry’s defense, which hasn’t been too shabby itself at 9.6 points per game (second in Class A), presents an intriguing flare to the game as well.

“Our defense has been a pretty good high point for us as well this year. It’s faster this year as opposed to it being a little bigger last year,” Garry said. “Our ability to run with people has definitely kept us in some games.”

Wade said the Bears will look for some matchups and balance.

“If we can control the line of scrimmage, we’ll be in good shape,” Wade said. “If we can do that and get our yards running, we can get out to the edge and make the big plays downfield.”

Besides the nuts, bolts and numbers, experience could play a factor as well.

Fort Cherry defeated South Side to win its first football championship in this game last season. The Rangers produced 447 yards of total offense in that game with Sieg throwing for 166 and two scores and rushing for 178 yards and two touchdowns. It was Fort Cherry’s third crack at a WPIAL football title. The Rangers lost to Riverview in 1997 and Rochester in 2001.

“Getting down there last year felt a little bit different than getting down there this year,” Garry said. “We’re excited to get to defend what we won last year. We’ve just told the kids that this is the standard and you know that people are going to be slinging from the start. Having that target on their back has given them some good experience.”

On the other hand the Bears are in a bit of unfamiliar territory, which may seem mind-boggling to football fans in Western Pa. Clairton is appearing in a title game on the gridiron for the first time since 2020, a blowout loss suffered to Jeannette at Martorelli Stadium. It’s the first trip to Acrisure Stadium since it was still Heinz Field in 2019, which is also Clairton’s last of its 14 titles, a win over Sto-Rox.

“We’ve been conference champions the last few years and these kids have been champions growing up. They understand the atmosphere and know how difficult it is to win a championship,” Wade said. “We’re not feeling that they’re going to be in awe. When people say ‘for this program,’ that’s maybe not so fair to high school kids. This is hard enough each year as is. You just try to continue to build the program that’s known for winning.”

The winner of Saturday’s game will advance to the PIAA semifinals against the winner of a Friday night affair played between District 9 champion Port Allegany and District 10 champion Wilmington.

The day’s tone setter will be kicked off at 11 a.m., a time Clairton is a bit more used to this year having played most home games at Thomas Jefferson on Saturday afternoons, while Fort Cherry hasn’t done it since last year.

The Rangers will vie to become back-to-back champions, while the Bears seek their 15th football championship.

Listen to the game for free on the TribLive High School Sports Network.

Tags: Clairton, Fort Cherry