CTK ’16: WPIAL A 2015 Football Flashback

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, August 7, 2016 | 7:21 AM

The good news for Clairton was they added another WPIAL title notch to their championship belt. The bad news is though that after winning four straight PIAA crowns from 2009 through 2012, the state gold drought expanded to four years last fall. The Bears roared through the regular season and district playoffs before crushing Jeannette to earn a 12th school football crown and the seventh championship in the last eight years. Here is a look back at the WPIAL Single-A in 2015.

2015 WPIAL SINGLE-A HEADLINES:

*  Clairton enjoyed another perfect record through the regular season and the district playoffs, but the Bears were stunned in the PIAA Quarterfinals. The Bears were eliminated in shocking fashion when they fell to District 5 champion 35-22. in the 2014 state Quarterfinals, the Bears had rolled to a 52-24 victory over the Mountaineers. The surprise result marked the first time Clairton had ever lost to a District 5 team and the first time the Bears ever lost in their first PIAA playoff game. They were a perfect 8-0 in previous trips to the state playoffs and had outscored their opponents 320-52 in those eight games.

*  Believe it or not, Class A produced the top two leaders in passing in 2015. Zach Chandler stayed healthy and put up monster numbers for Avonworth, connecting on 169 of 285 passes for 2,976 yards and 30 touchdowns in eleven games for the Antelopes in leading the WPIAL. Right behind him at #2 was Clairton quarterback Aaron Mathews who was 119 of 184 passing for  2,483 yards and 31 touchdowns. Josh Hughes of Bentworth was 9th in the district in passing with 2,010 yards. Garrett Day of Avonworth led all receivers in the WPIAL with 59 catches for 990 yards. Noah Peternel of Bentworth was third with 54 receptions for 859 yards.

*  The only Class A running back to finish in the top ten rushing in the WPIAL was Tony Welsh of Beth-Center. He was fourth with 1,945 yards. Also finishing in the Top 20 on the ground in the district were Montrail Strozier of Rochester at #12 with 1,489 yards, Dylan rush of Mapletown right behind him at #13 with 1,430 yards and at #20 was Lamont Wade of Clairton. Wade had a monster sophomore season in 2014 in which he led the WPIAL in rushing with 2,765 yards and with an average of nearly 12 yards per carry. However injuries and blowout wins kept Wade’s numbers down in 2015 as he finished with 1,308 yards and still enjoyed a bloated average per carry of 8.8 yards.

*  For a second straight year, it was another rare miss of the playoffs for the Monessen Greyhounds, who finished tied for fourth place with Springdale, but lost the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Dynamos. 12 teams from the 2014 WPIAL Class A playoff field returned to the postseason in 2015. The four new faces were Union, Bishop Canevin, Bentworth and Carmichaels. The four teams they replaced who were spectators for the playoffs last fall were Riverside, Brentwood, Mapletown and Avella. After winning only one game in 2014, Union enjoyed a four game swing up and finished with a 5-5 mark while Bishop Canevin did them one better. The Crusaders were 2-7 in ;14 but finished tied for second in the Black Hills Conference and ended up 7-4 for the season.  

*  No WPIAL football teams finished 2015 with a perfect record. However four Class A teams ended up winless and carry the burden of double-digit losing streaks into the 2016 campaign. Western Beaver was 0-9 and has lost 10 straight. Our Lady of the Sacred heart was 0-9 and have dropped 11 in a row. West Greene was 0-9 and enter this season on a 14-game losing streak while Wilkinsburg was 0-9 and lost 17 consecutive games to close the door on their storied program. Wilkinsburg merged with Westinghouse this past summer. 

FINAL 2015 WPIAL SINGLE-A REGULAR SEASON STANDINGS:

(Top 4 teams from AA conferences qualified for playoffs)

# = Clinched Section Title
* = Clinched Playoff Berth
x = Eliminated From Playoff Chase

CLASS A BIG SEVEN CONFERENCE

2015 WPIAL SINGLE-A PLAYOFF RESULTS:

2015 WPIAL CLASS A CHAMPIONSHIP FOOTBALL GAME:

Clairton Bears 40 – Jeannette Jayhawks 0  (MSA)

WPIAL CLASS A Semifinals:

Clairton Bears 56  –  Frazier Commodores 15

Jeannette Jayhawks 22  –  Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic Trojans 14

WPIAL CLASS A Quarterfinals:

Clairton Bears 46 – Avonworth Antelopes 21

Frazier Commodores 14 – Shenango Wildcats 13

Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic Trojans 49 – Bishop Canevin Crusaders 20

Jeannette Jayhawks 25 – Neshannock Lancers 15

WPIAL CLASS A First Round:

Clairton Bears 70 – Carmichaels Mighty Mikes 6

Avonworth Antelopes 28 – Beth-Center Bulldogs 12

Frazier Commodores 33 – South Side Rams 32 in Overtime

Shenango Wildcats 23 – Springdale Dynamos 10

Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic Trojans 35 – Union Scotties 7

Bishop Canevin Crusaders 35 – Greensburg Central Catholic Centurions 28

Jeannette Jayhawks 27 – Chartiers-Houston Buccaneers 7

Neshannock Lancers 49 – Bentworth Bearcats 13

2015 PIAA SINGLE-A PLAYOFF RESULTS:

2015 PIAA CLASS A STATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:

Bishop Guilfoyle Marauders 35 – Farrell Steelers 0

PIAA CLASS A Semifinals:

Farrell Steelers 26 – Berlin-Brothersvalley Mountaineers 21

Bishop Guilfoyle Marauders 43 – Old Forge Devils 13

PIAA CLASS A Quarterfinals:

Berlin-Brothersvalley Mountaineers 35 – CLAIRTON BEARS 22 

Farrell Steelers 27 – Kane Wolves 6

Old Forge Devils 51 – Philadelphia Bishop McDevitt Royal Lancers 7

Bishop Guilfoyle Marauders 38 – Camp Hill Lions 3

PIAA CLASS A First Round:

CLAIRTON BEARS 40 – JEANNETTE JAYHAWKS 0 

Berlin-Brothersvalley Mountaineers 45 – Northern Bedford County Panthers 7

Kane Wolves 21 – Brockway Rovers 17

Farrell Steelers 26 – Sharpsville Blue Devils 20 in Overtime

Old Forge Devils 28 – Wellsboro Hornets 21

Philadelphia Bishop McDevitt Royal Lancers 35 – Marian Catholic Colts 19

Bishop Guilfoyle Marauders 50 – Moshannon Valley Black Knights 0

Camp Hill Lions 40 – York Catholic Fighting Irish 28