Fort Cherry’s Matt Sieg named winner of annual Willie Thrower Award as area’s top high school QB

By: Michael Love
Saturday, March 29, 2025 | 6:05 PM

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Matt Sieg, a dual-threat quarterback from Fort Cherry, helped the Rangers win a second straight WPIAL Class A title in 2024.

The junior and Penn State commit passed for 1,345 yards and 20 touchdowns and rushed for 1,832 yards and 32 scores.

He became the first quarterback in WPIAL history to pass and rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season three times.

Sieg collected a plethora of awards this past season. On Saturday, he added one more accolade.

Sieg was selected this year’s Willie Thrower Award winner from a group of five finalists at a celebration luncheon at the Knead Café ballroom in New Kensington.

“This is a really special moment,” said Sieg, the 2024 TribLive HSSN Football Player of the Year.

The annual award honors the top high school quarterback in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Sieg and the other finalists from the 2024 season — Peters Township’s Nolan DiLucia, North Catholic’s Joey Felitsky, Bethel Park’s Tanner Pfeuffer, and Central Catholic’s Jy’Aire Walls — were chosen by a panel of coaches and media members and revealed in January.

Sieg and DiLucia also were finalists last year.

“Being here last year among a number of great quarterbacks, including Nolan, it was an honor,” Sieg said. “To be in the same room with these guys, the other finalists, is so special. This year, to be announced the winner, it is awesome. It is humbling to receive this award named for someone who worked hard and overcame so much to be a great quarterback and a great person.”

Four of the five finalists were introduced by their head coaches. Fort Cherry coach Tanner Garry was not able to attend the banquet ceremony because his wife was in labor.

Tom Scarpone, athletic director at Fort Cherry, lauded Sieg for his efforts and dedication on and off the field.

“He is a positive role model for the entire Fort Cherry student body and for the community,” Scarpone said. “He does well in the classroom. He’s a positive influence on all of the younger players. He’s so busy, but he takes time out of his day to do the little things right.

“We had unified bocce this year. We’re at a playoff game, and who do I see there rooting everybody on? It was Matt. You will see him at the local cemetery decorating tombstones for veterans. He’s just a top-notch person.”

The award is named after New Kensington native Willie Thrower, a two-time WPIAL champion (1946-47) who became the first Black quarterback to take a snap in a modern NFL game. Sieg received a 29-pound replica of the Willie Thrower statue that stands inside Valley High Memorial Stadium.

Central Catholic’s Payton Wehner won the Thrower Award last year.

This is the fifth year for the award. The previous winners were Armstrong’s Caden Olsen (2022, ’21) and Pine-Richland’s Cole Spencer (2020).

Olsen and Spencer, in video speeches, offered words of congratulations and recognition to the five finalists as did former Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert and Upper St. Clair football coach Mike Junko.

The names of each Willie Thrower Award winner will be embossed on a permanent plaque display near Thrower’s statue at the stadium.

Members of the Thrower family, including his sons, Willie Jr. and Melvin, were at Saturday’s luncheon to congratulate Sieg and the other finalists and to honor their late loved one.

Willie Thrower died from a heart attack in February 2022. He was 71.

“This event and the award honors Willie in a way that uplifts a lot of kids,” said Melvyn Smith, board president of the Willie Thrower Award Foundation. “Being a candidate to win the award, the finalists find out a lot about themselves when they also find out a lot about Willie and his impact. That Willie can do that years after his death says a lot about him. That is one of the things I like most about it.”

From the award’s inception in 2021, which first recognized the top signal callers from the 2020 season, the Willie Thrower Awards Foundation has memorialized its namesake and recognized the pride for a man who broke down a color barrier in the NFL.

The foundation’s aim is to bring national recognition to Thrower and to grow student-athletes and help them develop their skills and leadership talents.

In recognition of the emergence of girls participating in football as a high school sport, it also is developing programming and camps to support their athletic development.

“Why is this award so meaningful?” New Kensington Mayor Thomas Guzzo said. “Yes, it is named after the man born with the perfect name (to be a quarterback). But it also has such historical meaning and relevance. Records are made to be broken. Every year, we see records that we once thought unbreakable in the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL shattered. But being the first at something that is meaningful and that changed a sport forever, that is unbreakable.

“Being a pioneer, a barrier breaker, a trailblazer, those words undoubtedly describe New Kensington’s own Willie Thrower.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.