Clairton’s Historic Ride Rolls On With Another Class A State Title

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, December 16, 2011 | 10:57 PM

The Clairton Bears made history at Hersheypark Stadium, claiming their third consecutive PIAA title with a 35-19 victory over the Southern Columbia Tigers in the Class A Championship Game. With the win, the Bears win their 47th straight game, breaking the 46 game winning streak established by Braddock.

Tyler Boyd ran for 218 yards, including scoring jaunts of 78 and 68 yards in the fourth quarter, the Bears put up 436 yards of offense. The two touchdowns by Boys give him 48 for the season.

Coach Tom Nola said it was overwhelming to be mentioned in the same sentence with Braddock and their legendary coach Chuck Klausing, in typical Nola fashion, he deflected the credit from himself, crediting his players and coaches for the streak.

Clairton scored first on a long bomb from Capri Thompson to Terrish Webb, the 88 yard touchdown gave Clairton an 8-0 lead with the two-pointer. Southern Columbia answered in the second, Tyler Levan scored on a 5 yard run, the Tigers did not convert the two-pointer. Clairton scored a minute later, Thompson connected with Webb again, this time for a 65 yard strike and a 14-6 lead.

Southern Columbia came back again, using a double handoff play that was successful all day, with Matt Moore having some big gainers, Moore scored on a 4th and 1 play on a 3 yard run, but again the Tigers failed on the two-point try and trailed 14-12 with 1:47 left in the half. Clairton used the big play again, Boyd broke a 56 yard run to the one, Reuben Kelley scored on the next play to give the Bears a 20-12 lead. Trenton Coles kicked the extra point, Coles was rolled into by a Southern Columbia player and went down with a knee injury, he did not return. Nola showed his emotion with the officials by arguing the non-call while Coles was receiving treatment.

The Tigers opened the second half with a long five minute drive, helped by a Moore 30 yard run but were forced to punt, Southern Columbia got the ball back and capitalized as Moore took a 5 yard pass from Brad Fegley on the final play of the quarter. The drive was twelve plays and took 4:36, meaning the Tigers held the ball for over nine and a half minutes of the quarter. Dylan Swank’s extra point cut the Clairton lead to 21-19 with one quarter remaining.
The teams traded punts and field possession in the opening minutes of the fourth, Boyd extended the Bears lead with the 78 yard run, it came on an option play to the left, Boyd reversed his field, getting to the 40 yard line of Southern Columbia, then cut across the field again to go the rest of the way for a 27-19 lead. The junior gave credit to the coaching staff noticing the Tigers were over-pursuing the ball, that would allow Boyd to cut back. He said he made the first move and was able to have blockers, then when he made the second move, Boyd knew he was not going to be caught.
Southern Columbia had a great drive going, Moore had another big gainer on the double handoff, but he fumbled at the Clairton 35, Carvan Thompson recovered and Clairton thought they were in business. But Tyus Booker fumbled on the next play, Keith Day recovered and Southern Columbia had a short field to try for the tying score.

It was time for the Clairton defense to take over, sacking Fegley twice, the second by Kelley dropped the Tigers back to their own 44, forcing a punt. Three plays later, Boyd broke thru the line for the 65 yard touchdown and sealed the win. Southern Columbia could not get a first down and coach Jim Roth elected to punt, rather that go for it on fourth down.
Capri Thompson threw for 165 yards on 4 of 9, Webb had 3 catches for 167 yards. The Bears defense had eight sacks, Devonte Gardlock and Kelly each tallied 3.5 sacks. Titus Howard led Clairton with 9 tackles.

Moore had 16 carries for 136 yards, he also caught 6 passes for 80 yards. Tyler Levan ran 21 times for 70 yards. The Tigers ran 70 plays to the Bears 39, they also had a 30:47 to 17:10 time of possession advantage and 17 first downs to Clairton’s 10.

With the win, Clairton is now 62-2 over the four year span, ending in four trips to Hershey. The last loss for the Bears was in the opening game of the 2009 season at Laurel.

Scoring Summary:

Clairton : 8 – 13 – 0 – 14 = 35
Southern Columbia : 0 – 12 – 7 – 0 = 19

4th Quarter:
C: Tyler Boyd 78 run (pass failed) 5:54
C: Boyd 65 run (Titus Howard pass from Thompson) 2:21

Tags: Clairton