McKeesport comes out on top against Belle Vernon

By: Jeremy Sellew
Friday, September 12, 2025 | 11:42 PM

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Belle Vernon and McKeesport were locked in a tight battle throughout the Friday night beach party at James Weir Stadium.

And though the Tigers were able to come away with a 20-7 victory, neither team was particularly pleased with its performance.

McKeesport bullied its way to the win, using eight ball carries to rush for 332 yards.

Akeem Cochran finished with 92 yards on six carries, Javier Everett carried five times for 84 yards and Avont Hudson had nine carries for 71 yards.

“When you’re missing your best player, one of the best in the country, that’s what you have to do,” Tigers coach Matt Miller said of injured running back Kemon Spell. “I thought our offensive line played really well, but we left a lot of points out there on the field.”

The Tigers committed 12 penalties for 140 yards and had a fumble inside the Leopards’ 5-yard line that took away opportunities to extend their lead.

“Belle Vernon was very tough. They fought us the whole time, and they made some big plays to get right back in the game,” Miller said.

Unfortunately for the Leopards, quarterback Curty Wade suffered an injury on the fourth play of the second half and never returned after a big hit by McKeesport’s Nycere Rhone.

“He may miss some time,” BVA coach Scott Bryer said. “It’s unfortunate. Without him, we had nothing going offensively. We couldn’t get our running game going all night.”

The scoring in the first half came all in the first quarter as the Tigers shot right down the field on their opening drive.

It took only five plays, one a big 59-yard run by Everett that set up Cochran’s 12-yard run after taking a late pitch from Miller.

“That’s exactly what we wanted to do,” Miller said. “We had those two scores and were feeling pretty good. We just couldn’t extend it because of our own mistakes. Those are things that can’t happen. We were exactly where we wanted to be.”

The ensuing drive for the Leopards was a slew of errors that forced them to punt the ball back to the Tigers.

There was a 7-yard loss on an attempted jet sweep by receiver Caleb Horner. Then two plays later, a bad snap on Preston Rathway’s punt attempt forced him to kick on the run, which ended up being a 7-yard gain in field position for McKeesport at the Leopards’ 28.

It only took four plays for the Tigers to score on Matt Miller’s throw to Michael Wright, who raced 25 yards to the end zone.

The Leopards refused to back down, though.

On a third-and-21, quarterback Wade hit Luca Ghilani, who made a fantastic catch over the head of a McKeesport defensive back down the sideline.

Wade cashed in a short time later on an 18-yard run. Rathway’s PAT made it 14-7.

Wade intercepted a Miller pass on the first play of the Tigers’ next drive and returned it inside the 10, but a pass interference penalty negated the play. It allowed the Tigers to drive the ball all the way down to the Leopards’ 4, but BVA’s Anthony DiCenzo recovered Hudson’s fumble.

“In that type of game, you can’t leave points out there,” Miller said. “We’re feeling a lot better going into the locker room with possibly a two-score lead instead of one.”

The BVA drive came up empty with a turnover on downs at the McKeesport 35.

The Tigers responded near the end of the half, driving down to the Leopards 4-yard line again, but Wyatt Heasley missed a 21-yard field goal as time expired in the half.

“In the first half, they went to a lot more pitch on that option than we thought they would,” Bryer said. “We adjusted nicely to it, I thought.

“But they have a really good offensive line. I love the way our guys battled in there, but they wore on us a bit.”

After Wade went out, the Leps turned to Jace Gedekoh at quarterback, who looked a little overwhelmed. Wade was 5 of 5 passing for 95 yards in the first half.

“It’s football at any level. Just like the NFL, when a backup goes in, how many reps does that guy actually get during the week?” Bryer said. “Not many. Our other backup, Cam Black, got hurt in the JV game last week, so Jace did the best he could considering the circumstances.”

Gedekoh finished 2 of 8 for 18 yards and two interceptions in the second half.

The Tigers added their final score with 1:19 left in the third quarter. Hudson raced right up the middle for a 26-yard touchdown.

“We tell the guys all the time, no one is going to feel sorry for us,” Bryer said. “We’re not into moral victories. Yes, we played tough and we were physical, but we have to keep working hard. South Fayette next week, then we have TJ coming in here. It’s not going to be easy, but we’re not going to stop working.”

The Tigers will travel to Upper St. Clair next week.

“When you see our schedule, you get a little concerned with possibly going 0-4,” Miller said. “To be 2-2 and not having a top player, we’ll take that.”

Tags: Belle Vernon, McKeesport