Citing injuries, Shady Side Academy calls off football game vs. Clairton

By: Chris Harlan
Wednesday, September 3, 2025 | 4:34 PM

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Citing “an extraordinary rash of significant injuries,” Shady Side Academy has canceled this week’s football game against Clairton.

The school on Wednesday announced plans to forfeit, saying nearly 20 of the team’s 40 players were sidelined, “leaving the program unable to field a competitive roster safely.” The WPIAL will consider the game postponed for now, giving the teams a chance to reschedule later in the season if an opportunity arises.

If that doesn’t occur, the result can be recorded as a forfeit.

Shady Side Academy, off to a 2-0 start under first-year coach Andrew Geisler, was scheduled to play at Clairton in a nonconference game Friday night. The Bulldogs are coming off a 56-26 victory over Burrell last week.

“Our players have battled through injuries and adversity with heart and resilience, and their 2-0 start speaks volumes about their character,” Geisler said in a statement. “But nothing is more important than their safety. This is a temporary setback, not a reflection of what this team can accomplish together this season.”

Shady Side Academy said nearly half of the team’s 40-player roster was unavailable.

“Coaches and administrators emphasized the unprecedented number of injuries makes competing this week impossible without compromising player safety,” the academy said in a statement announcing the forfeit.

Clairton defeated Shady Side Academy, 50-0, last season. The Bears, ranked No. 1 in WPIAL Class A, are coming off a 79-0 victory over Serra Catholic last week.

Clairton coach Wayne Wade said he was disappointed for his players that they won’t have a game this week. He also said he was concerned this won’t be the last time an opponent forfeits a game against Clairton.

“I’m disappointed because my kids work just as hard as every other program to want to be successful,” Wade said. “My kids miss their stats, they miss their film, their recruiting (opportunities). All of that stuff is now lost for them. And what if it happens a couple of more times?”

Clairton has faced this dilemma before.

In 2018, Mapletown forfeited a Week 1 nonconference game against Clairton citing a shorthanded roster. A year later, the WPIAL let Clairton find its own opponent for that week rather than risk another forfeit, so the Bears scheduled McGuffey in 2019.

In 2021, Clairton was idle in Week 7 when a short-handed Imani Christian team forfeited their conference game.

Most of the forfeits were by nonconference opponents. But Wade noted that the Class A Eastern Conference includes some schools that started this season with small rosters.

“What stops those teams from saying, ‘We’re banged up, too,’ ” he said. “No, we can’t play Clairton.”

The Bears outscored conference opponents 417-14 last season. Wade said he has heard critics say Clairton should voluntarily play up to a larger classification but said that’s not reasonable for a team that has around two dozen players.

Shady Side Academy is a Class 2A school.

“We can’t go to double-A or triple-A because we only have 25 kids on the team,” Wade said. “We’re a true single-A program. We graduated 39 kids last year, total.”

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.

Tags: Clairton, Shady Side Academy