Clairton uses late defensive stop against Laurel to capture 15th WPIAL title
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Saturday, November 22, 2025 | 1:36 PM
Clairtons’ Brandon Murphy causes Laurel’s Kolton Carlson to fumble late in the fourth quarter during the WPIAL Class A football championship Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025 at Acrisure Stadium.
Clairton’s Donte Wright kisses the trophy after beating Laurel in the WPIAL Class A football championship Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025 at Acrisure Stadium.
Clairton celebrates with the trophy after beating Laurel in the WPIAL Class A football championship Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025 at Acrisure Stadium.
Clairton’s Brandon Murphy pulls in a second-quarter touchdown pass past Laurel’s Brayden Faulkner during the WPIAL Class A football championship Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025 at Acrisure Stadium.
Clairton’s Donte Wright avoids Laurel’s J.J. McBride during the WPIAL Class A football championship Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025 at Acrisure Stadium.
Laurel’s Kolton Carlson avoids Clairton’s Deon Lovelace-Pompey during the WPIAL Class A football championship Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025 at Acrisure Stadium.
Clairton head coach Wayne Wade gets the water cooler shower after beating Laurel in the WPIAL Class A football championship Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025 at Acrisure Stadium.
Laurel’s Jack Miles pulls in a pass past Clairton’s Deon Lovelace-Pompey during the WPIAL Class A football championship Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025 at Acrisure Stadium.
Clairton’s Brandon Murphy stiff-arms Laurel’s Mason Moser during the WPIAL Class A football championship Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025 at Acrisure Stadium.
Laurel’s J.J. McBride breaks up a pass intended for Clairton’s Michael Ruffin during the WPIAL Class A football championship Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025 at Acrisure Stadium.
Clairton’s Donte Wright stiff-arms Laurel’s J.J. McBride during the WPIAL Class A football championship Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025 at Acrisure Stadium.
Laurel’s Alex Medved takes down Clairton’s Jeff Thompson during the WPIAL Class A football championship Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025 at Acrisure Stadium.
Clairton sophomore linebacker Brandon Murphy knocked the ball away and Donte Wright corralled the loose ball with 2 minutes, 15 seconds remaining.
The Bears’ dominant defense — which had fallen into a two-week siesta — awoke Saturday to bail out Clairton during an 8-6 win over Laurel in the WPIAL Class A title game Saturday at Acrisure Stadium.
The Bears, who have the second-most WPIAL titles in history with 15, climbed the mountain for the first time since 2019. Clairton, which improved to 12-8 in WPIAL championship games, never fell far from the summit.
“The reason is because we’re always in the playoff picture,” said Wade, who won his fifth title during his 12-season tenure. “We’re always in the playoffs. We always have an opportunity to win a championship, and it’s a testament to how hard these kids work. It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long.”
Clairton will play District 10 champion Greenville in the state semifinals at a time and location to be determined.
The No. 2 Bears (13-1) gave the fourth-seeded Spartans plenty of opportunities to spring an upset. Clairton turned the ball over four times in the first half in its own territory — once when Jeff Thompson was intercepted by Tony Geiwitz and the other three times on downs — before they could get anything going on offense.
“Obviously, we were in a good position,” Laurel coach Brian Cooper said. “We had a couple opportunities to put some points on the board, but we knew Clairton had a great defense and those points were gonna be tough. So we settled for a couple field goal attempts and unfortunately just fell a little bit short.”
#HSSN Highlights: For @CCSDathletes, defense wins championships. Clairton held off Laurel 8-6 to capture the 1A #WPIAL football title. pic.twitter.com/2XJuj4wuv5
— TribLive HSSN (@TribLiveHSSN) November 22, 2025
Clairton was willing to take risks on fourth down because of its typically excellent defense. The Bears only allowed 19 points in the regular season, but had conceded 55 in their previous two playoff games.
Laurel, which was appearing in its first WPIAL title game since 1989, finished with 94 total yards on 42 plays. Kolton Carlson led the Spartans with 26 rushing yards on 10 carries.
“We got to the point where you have to try some different things, but when we had the ball deep down there, you don’t want to make any mistakes to take you out of field-goal range,” Cooper said.
Carlson, who also punts, made life difficult on Clairton early. He pinned the Bears inside their own 5-yard line on their first two possessions.
Thompson said the Bears had to spread things out to move the ball.
“Their defensive line was actually a little tough, but we started getting a little movement on them,” Thompson said. “We were open to open up pass plays too, even though they got called back. We got in our T formation and we started grounding and pounding and controlling the game.”
Murphy scored Clairton’s lone touchdown on a 12-yard pass from Thompson before halftime. Wright scored on the 2-point conversion run. The Bears finished with 257 total yards, including a team-high 74 rushing yards from Deon Lovelace-Pompey. Thompson was 6-of-13 passing for 61 yards.
Clairton made two key stops in the final four minutes.
Laurel cut the deficit to two points when Nathan Hill scored on a 2-yard run with 5:31 remaining. Three Clairton defenders stacked up J.J. McBride in the backfield to stop the 2-point conversion.
On the Bears’ next possession, Clairton attempted a fake punt with Wright, who was stopped on the 21-yard line. Laurel took over with 3:51 remaining and a chance to go ahead, but the Bears’ defense forced the turnover that brought home another title.
Murphy caused Carlson to fumble to seal the win.
“The defensive coaches were telling us that we have to strap up,” Wright said. “We had to watch our keys and play. We talked together, we talked to each other. I told the defense, ‘Let’s play hard. Watch your keys and watch the ball.’ And we stopped him.”
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