WPIAL Class A championship game by the numbers: Fort Cherry 21, Clairton 20

By: Jonathan Bombulie
Saturday, November 23, 2024 | 2:18 PM

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Fort Cherry 21, Clairton 20

Fort Cherry 7-7-0-7 — 21

Clairton 6-0-14-0 — 20

Scoring summary

C: Mike Ruffin 79 run (run failed)

FC: Matt Sieg 4 run (Nik Massey kick)

FC: Sieg 1 run (Massey kick)

C: Drahcir Jones 58 run (Ruffin run)

C: Ruffin 3 run (run failed)

FC: Ryan Huey 13 pass from Sieg (Massey kick)

Team statistics

FC … C

First downs 13 … 11

Rushes-yards 37-83 … 42-335

Passing yards 181 … 6

Passing Comp-Att-Int 9-16-1 … 4-5-0

Total offense plays-yards 53-264… 47-341

Punts (number-avg.) 5-22.6 … 2-17.5

Fumbles-lost 2-1 … 1-1

Penalties-yards 7-45 … 11-90

Possession time 22:46 … 25:14

Individual statistics

Rushing: FC: Matt Sieg 22-87, 2TDs; Ryan Huey 5-7; Eli Salvini 1-5; Team 3-(minus-16). C: Mike Ruffin 14-162, 2 TDs; Drahcir Jones 10-90, TD; Deon Pompey 8-57; Donte Wright 9-29.

Passing: FC: Sieg 8-15-1, 161 yards, TD; Shane Cornali 1-1-0, 20 yards. C: Jeff Thompson 3-4-0, 10 yards. Ruffin 1-1-0, minus-4 yards.

Receiving: FC: Cornali 4-65; Huey 2-33, TD; Evan Rogers 1-44; Nik Massey 1-34. C: Ruffin 2-0; Jones 1-10; Wright 1-(minus-4); Taris Wooding 1-0.

Back-to-back

The Rangers won back-to-back titles after defeating South Side, 42-28, in last year’s finals. They’re the first team to win consecutive WPIAL Class A championships since Clairton won three in 2014-16. Fort Cherry is 2-2 all-time in the WPIAL finals. Clairton is 11-8.

Dual threat

Fort Cherry junior quarterback Matt Sieg ran for 87 yards and threw for 161 yards and a touchdown. That gives him 6,178 rushing yards and 4,176 passing yards for his career. This season, he has run for 1,801 yards and passed for 1,285. Sieg and Jeannette’s Terrelle Pryor are the only players in WPIAL history to surpass 4,000 yards rushing and passing.

Key stat

Fort Cherry went 2 for 2 on fourth down in the game, with both successful conversions coming on its game-winning touchdown drive. Clairton was 0 for 4 on fourth down.

Elite company

Sieg scored two touchdowns against the vaunted Clairton defense in the first half. That matched the output of all 13 offenses that faced the Bears this season before Saturday.

The Bears allowed a total of two offensive touchdowns in 10 regular season and three playoff games — a 4-yard run by Leechburg’s Tim Andrasy and a 32-yard pass from Brentwood’s Cedric Davis to Forrest Betz. Clairton also gave up a defensive touchdown to Steel Valley’s Donald Barksdale on a 38-yard fumble return in Week Zero.

Even-steven

While Clairton still enjoys a 10-3 lead in the all-time series against Fort Cherry, the playoff matchups between teams are dead even at 3-3. Clairton won in the 1998 first round, 2013 quarterfinals and 2016 quarterfinals. Fort Cherry won in the 1997 quarterfinals and 2002 first round before Saturday.

Big-play threat

Clairton junior Mike Ruffin, who scored the Bears’ first touchdown on a 79-yard run in the first quarter and had success as a wildcat quarterback throughout the game, was a big-play machine in the playoffs. He had a 66-yard touchdown run in the semifinals against Bishop Canevin, TD runs of 38 and 20 yards in the quarterfinals against California and a 59-yard scoring run in the first round against Rochester.

It’s Beanie, baby

The honorary captain for the game, joining the teams at midfield for the pregame coin toss, was Steelers rookie defensive back Beanie Bishop. Bishop went to Pleasure Ridge Park High School in Louisville and was an all-district pick as a senior. A two-star recruit, he received one Division I scholarship offer, from Western Kentucky, and took it. After three seasons with the Hilltoppers, he transferred to Minnesota and then West Virginia.

Jonathan Bombulie is the TribLive assistant sports editor. A Greensburg native, he was a hockey reporter for two decades, covering the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for 17 seasons before joining the Trib in 2015 and covering the Penguins for four seasons, including Stanley Cup championships in 2016-17. He can be reached at jbombulie@triblive.com.

Tags: Clairton, Fort Cherry