Steel Valley makes statement in sending South Allegheny to 1st loss, forcing tie for section title

By: Liam Belan
Friday, October 24, 2025 | 11:30 PM

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Despite a difficult 1-2 start to the season, Steel Valley knew that it had what it takes to compete with the best of Class 2A this year.

With athletes all over the field, including a Pitt commit in talented RB/CB Da’Ron Barksdale, and a longtime head coach in Ray Braszo, they have reason to believe that they can make a deep run in the postseason this year.

The Ironmen had a chance to put the WPIAL on notice Friday night in a highly anticipated Allegheny Conference clash at undefeated South Allegheny, and they made the most of it by traveling to Gladiator Stadium and returning home with a resounding 33-12 victory.

Barksdale, who dominated with 29 carries for 179 yards and three touchdowns as well as an interception late in the game, said that his squad was eager to spoil South Allegheny’s chance at its first undefeated season, and the Ironmen looked the part.

“I hope we shook up the WPIAL with this one,” Barksdale said. “We needed this one, and we wanted this one at every level. We wanted them to feel us because they had talked some stuff to us all week, so we wanted this so bad. This was a statement game for sure.”

The standout running back scored twice in the first quarter and again in the fourth to help Steel Valley (7-3, 5-1) pull into a tie atop the conference with South Allegheny (9-1, 5-1) and Apollo-Ridge (7-3, 5-1) as the Ironmen defeated the Gladiators and lost to Apollo-Ridge while SA defeated A-R, 35-0.

Based on WPIAL tiebreaker points, Steel Valley will be the top seed out of the conference, followed by South Allegheny second and Apollo-Ridge third.

For South Allegheny coach Brian Hanson, the game had a lot of similarities to last year’s 48-38 loss to eventual WPIAL champion South Park.

Like that matchup, the Gladiators fought hard but were ultimately overpowered by a strong team. Hanson said that the loss last season was a catalyst for their postseason success, and he’s hoping for the same effect this time around.

“Us and Steel Valley, we didn’t get a lot of resistance in the conference,” Hanson said. “When you play somebody that’s going to give you some resistance, you’re gonna get some warts exposed. We just have to figure out how to fix them. … Last year, when we got beat by South Park, we came back and got a chance to see some of those errors that you just don’t see when you’re playing other teams. So we’ve got some great teach tape for the kids now.”

With the athleticism of Steel Valley’s team, Hanson said that they were uniquely set up to defend the pass even in heavier personnel. The Gladiators, who usually churn out rushing yards en route to an average of 40 points per game, were forced to attack through the air as Alijah Cook eclipsed 30 passes. He racked up 183 yards and a touchdown to leading receiver Kymair Brown (6 receptions, 89 yards, TD), who found some extra space as the Ironmen looked to shut down leading target Drew Cook, who posted five receptions for 27 yards.

Joey Gamret paced the Gladiators on the ground with 16 carries for 77 yards and a score.

He claimed the first score of the game as the home crowd was quickly riled up on a fourth-and-1 at the Steel Valley 41. Gamret took a handoff to his left and got two key blocks from Brown and Drew Cook, who dominated at the point of attack as Brown dragged a would-be tackler away and Cook sealed the final defender that could’ve made the tackle to send Gamret off to the races.

After that, though, South Allegheny wasn’t able to get those same blocks that it is accustomed to. A wayward snap messed up the extra-point attempt on that score, making South Allegheny’s lead 6-0.

Barksdale wasted no time introducing himself to the Gladiator faithful, starting at his own 45 and ripping off a 42-yard scamper on his team’s first offensive play of the game. From there, he took a carry 3 yards and the next one 10 yards to find the end zone and go up 7-6 via an extra point from kicker Andrew Tenney.

Steel Valley had come close to stopping the Gladiators on the last drive with that fourth down, and this time its defense forced a three-and-out to quickly get the ball back.

A short punt from SA set the visitors up at their opponent’s 35, and Barksdale quickly took advantage with a 19-yard touchdown run to make it 14-6.

The Gladiators had a few solid drives from there, but they just couldn’t avoid mistakes that stalled them out. The most unfortunate one turned the tide of the game with 2:37 left before halftime as Alijah Cook looked to throw a long out route to the opposite side of the field, but it was jumped by Ashad Dye and returned 89 yards to the house. That proved to be a backbreaker, preventing SA from potentially tying the game and instead giving SV a 21-6 halftime advantage.

Alijah Cook and Brown connected well on a drive late in the third, hitting on a 21-yard pass to set up a 36-yard touchdown, and that kept the game within reach at 21-12. But SA just couldn’t manage the offense that it needed.

After being blanked in the third, Barksdale found the end zone for his squad early in the fourth to extend their lead to 27-12. From there, the South Allegheny offense had an unfortunate blunder on a low snap that Alijah Cook couldn’t corral, leading to a 42-yard scoop-and-score from Lamarion Rucker that capped off the scoring at 33-12.

Before the game ended, Barksdale came up with his pick deep in South Allegheny territory, and the Ironmen took a knee at the Gladiators’ 1 to end the game.

Both squads will be looking to progress far through the Class 2A playoffs. For Steel Valley, it’s all about keeping up this momentum, while the Gladiators will look to learn from their mistakes.

“Each game you try and get a little bit better, and that’s what you try and focus on towards playoffs,” Braszo said. “That’s what great players like (Da’Ron) and those guys rally behind. They won it, and it was a goal of ours to win this game, so we’re just moving that on to the playoffs.”

Tags: South Allegheny, Steel Valley