Like many kids growing up in Clairton, Michael Ruffin had a specific set of idols.
Now a junior linebacker and versatile offensive playmaker for the Bears, Ruffin said he has fond childhood memories of watching Clairton teams led by former standout Lamont Wade run to three straight WPIAL Class 1A championships from 2015-17.
“It’s crazy,” Ruffin said. “I watched all them dudes do it. I watched YouTube videos every day of them at Acrisure, it was Heinz back then, I watched them every day dreaming I could go there.”
Now, it’s Ruffin’s turn.
No. 2 seed Clairton dominated No. 3 seed Bishop Canevin Friday night in nearly every facet of their WPIAL Class 1A semifinal game at Peters Township’s Confluence Financial Partners Stadium to earn a 24-0 victory and a shot at the Bears’ first district title since 2019 and 15th all time.
Clairton (13-0) will face top-seeded and defending champion Fort Cherry (13-0) in the WPIAL Class 1A championship game at 11 a.m. Nov. 23 at Acrisure Stadium.
“It feels great,” said Bears coach Wayne Wade, a 1990 Clairton graduate who has guided his alma mater to four WPIAL titles in 10 seasons as head coach. “It’s been a long, grueling season for us.”
The Bears held the Crusaders (9-3) to just 64 yards of total offense, while also forcing three turnovers and adding two sacks, en route to earning their 10th shutout of the season. Clairton has not allowed a point in three WPIAL playoff contests, outscoring their competition by a staggering 134 points.
“We’re very special,” said junior linebacker Deon Pompey, who recovered a fumble, recorded a sack and scored on a 1-yard touchdown run against Bishop Canevin. “We’ve got all 11 guys on both sides of the ball who can play fast and physical.”
Clairton also rushed for 230 yards against the Crusaders, who were attempting to advance to the WPIAL championship game for the third time in the past four seasons.
Ruffin led the Bears effort offensively with 100 rushing yards and a 68-yard, second-half touchdown run, while workhorse running back Drahcir Jones added 97 yards and a 32-yard, first-half score on 15 carries.
“We’re staying right every day,” Ruffin said. “Every day, we’re in the weight room, pushing weights hard, no playing hard. It’s been right and we rode today.”
And that was certainly true from the very start Friday night.
After a Clairton punt to cap its first possession pinned Bishop Canevin on it’s own 1-yard line, the Bears took a 2-0 lead on a safety when Crusaders quarterback Kole Olszewski fumbled the snap in his own end zone.
Then two plays after the safety Jones added his touchdown to give Clairton an 8-0 lead.
Later in the quarter, the Bears special teams struck again. Zaemear Correll blocked a Bishop Canevin punt to set up Pompey’s dive into the end zone, which extended Clairton’s lead to 16-0 following a 2-point conversion run by Jones.
After halftime, Ruffin filled in under center for quarterback Jeff Thompson and accounted for the game’s final points with his read-option touchdown run down the left sideline.
“We knew they weren’t reading the quarterback,” Ruffin said. “We put me at quarterback. We knew how my speed was. I saw green grass, my teammates blocked for me and I took off. I don’t get caught with green grass.”
For Bishop Canevin, though, the game was certainly frustrating — especially for Olszewski.
The Crusaders quarterback is No. 16 in WPIAL history with 6,716 passing yards. He threw for 2,288 yards, 23 touchdowns and eight interceptions during a fantastic senior season.
Olszewski completed just 5-of-22 passes for 34 yards and an interception in his final high school game.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t come out our way today, but, man, we’re proud of those kids,” Bishop Canevin coach Rich Johnson said. “A lot of people put us down and counted us out this year. We were supposed to finish, I think, fifth or something like that in our conference and not even make the playoffs.
“To make it to the semis and just kind of come up short, I’m proud of these kids.”
The Crusaders were able to capitalize on some Clairton miscues and get into the red zone three times, but were ultimately turned away without scoring a point.
It was a frustrating way for their season to come to an end.
“You lose by 24 and you’re in the red zone three times, close and you don’t punch it in, they played great aggressive defense,” Johnson said. “Their defense played light’s out. Hat’s off to them, but we definitely gave them some opportunities and our execution wasn’t on par.
“You can’t come up short that many times in playoff football, especially in the semis against a team like that.”
Clairton is now excited to turn its sights toward Fort Cherry.
“These kids have the heart of champions,” Wade said. “If they continue to play defense like that, I think we can win it all.”
Other Class 1A semifinal
• Fort Cherry quarterback Matt Sieg, a Penn State recruit, rushed for 232 yards and six touchdowns on 18 carries and added 92 yards through the air to lead the top-seeded Rangers to a comfortable 49-14 victory against upstart No. 13 seed Jeannette in a WPIAL Class 1A semifinal contest at Canon-McMillan’s Big Mac Stadium in Canonsburg.
Sieg scored on runs of 11, 12, 43 and 24 yards to stake Fort Cherry (13-0) to a 28-7 halftime advantage over the Jayhawks (9-4), who earned WPIAL playoff upsets against No. 4 seed Neshannock and fifth-seeded Greensburg Central Catholic prior to Friday night’s contest.
The Rangers rounded out their scoring with second-half touchdown runs of 47 and 4 yards by Sieg and a 2-yard run across the goal line by Ryan Huey.
Sieg has now joined former Jeannette great Terrelle Pryor as the only quarterbacks in WPIAL history to rush and pass for 4,000 yards in their career.
Jeannette quarterback Kymone Powell paced his offense by throwing for 168 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He threw a 59-yard, first-half scoring strike to Jayce Powell and a 16-yard touchdown pass to Noah Sunder in the second half.
Powell finished with a game-high seven catches for 143 yards.
John is a copy editor and page designer at the Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at jsanta@unionprogress.com.