With Fort Cherry set to defend its WPIAL Class 1A title against Clairton in a highly anticipated clash of unbeaten teams on Saturday morning, many expected the Bears’ record-setting defense to present Rangers quarterback Matt Sieg with the most daunting challenge of his extraordinary career.
In the end, Fort Cherry’s multi-sport superstar did the same thing he always does — rise to the occasion in spectacular fashion.
When the clock struck zero and the dust had finally settled on one of the most memorable Class 1A championship games in WPIAL history, it was Sieg and the top-seeded Rangers (14-0) who emerged victorious with a dramatic 21-20 triumph against No. 2 Clairton (13-1). The Bears had given up only two defensive touchdowns all year long and had yet to allow a point in the postseason entering Saturday’s contest, but Sieg tallied a trio of scores to lift Fort Cherry to victory — including a go-ahead 13-yard TD pass on fourth down with 2:34 remaining — in another career-defining performance.
“Giving up 21 points throughout the year, that is obviously very, very impressive,” said Rangers coach Tanner Garry. “But I also felt that our defense has done a fantastic job this year, and I was excited for our defense to have a chance to be on the field with them. … Especially early on, it seemed like we had 11 hats on the ball on every single play.
“We wanted to show from the early going that this is a little bit different than anyone else they had seen so far. That was our mentality.”
Struggling to find lanes to run against Clairton’s vaunted defense, Sieg had plenty of success through the air, completing 8-of-15 attempts for 161 yards with one TD and one interception. He also carried the ball 28 times for 87 yards and a pair of scores, raising his season totals to 1,285 yards passing with 20 TDs along with 1,804 yards rushing and 32 TDs.
“He’s a great football player,” said Bears coach Wayne Wade. “He’s a tough kid. He has great instincts on the field, great speed. I think he’ll do well at the next level.”
Also playing the hero for Fort Cherry were junior wide receiver Nik Massey and sophomore running backs Ryan Huey and Eli Salvini. Massey caught a 34-yard pass in the first half, but more importantly, he went 3 for 3 on extra-point attempts in less-than-ideal conditions — including the championship-clinching PAT late in the fourth quarter. Huey finished with just 9 yards rushing on five carries, but he also made two of the game’s biggest plays as a receiver — a 20-yard reception on fourth down to keep the Rangers’ final drive alive, and of course, the game-winning, 13-yard TD reception from Sieg.
“It felt like [the ball] was in slow motion,” Huey said about waiting to haul in the pass from Sieg. “All I could think about was, ‘Am I going to catch this? Am I going to drop it? Am I going to get hit in the back? What’s going to happen?’ I ended up catching it and getting into the end zone.
“After that, everybody started celebrating. We were all worn out, but it was a great feeling.”
As for Salvini, his fourth-down sack on the last drive of the game put the final nail in Clairton’s coffin, clinching Fort Cherry’s second consecutive WPIAL title and setting off a raucous celebration among the Rangers fans in the stands.
“We firmly believe that we are going to be the same team in the fourth quarter as the first quarter,” Garry said. “We like to wear people down. … Being able to defend what you won the year before is just special.”
Fort Cherry’s promising opening drive ended in disaster, as a bad snap went over Sieg’s head and was recovered by Clairton linebacker Brandon Murphy. The Bears then opened the scoring with a 79-yard touchdown run by Mike Ruffin, who took a direct snap and followed his blockers to the left before cutting back all the way across the field and outracing the Rangers’ defense to the end zone.
It wouldn’t take long for Fort Cherry to respond, though, as Sieg lofted a 44-yard completion to Evan Rogers down the left sideline on the first play of the ensuing drive. Moments later, Sieg called his own number for a 4-yard TD run, and the Rangers took a 7-6 lead going into the second quarter.
Clairton moved the ball across midfield and inside the 40-yard line late in the first half, but Fort Cherry’s defense held strong on fourth down to force a turnover on downs. The Rangers then marched down the field while chewing up the remainder of the clock, and Sieg punched in a 1-yard TD run with 19 seconds left in the first half to give Fort Cherry a 14-6 advantage at the break.
In desperate need of a spark to start the second half and with quarterback Jeff Thompson hampered by an arm injury, senior running back Drahcir Jones provided the boost the Bears needed.
On the third play of the third quarter, Jones took a handoff and went untouched up the middle for a 58-yard TD, followed by a 2-point conversion by Ruffin to tie the score, 14-14, less than two minutes into the second half. Later in the quarter, Ruffin broke free for a 38-yard scamper, then his 3-yard TD run for his second score of the game put Clairton back on top, 20-14. Ruffin finished the game with 14 carries for 162 yards and two TDs, while Jones rushed for 90 yards and a score on 10 carries.
“[Thompson] couldn’t throw,” Wade said. “That shows the heart of a champion of our team, to lose our quarterback and to really not have a backup guy. … We knew that may be a problem for us [this year], and it became a problem for us.
“It’s tough to watch it, knowing the talent that you have, and you can’t get them the ball.”
With the Rangers facing a fourth-and-4 near midfield with less than six minutes remaining, Garry reached into his bag of tricks and dialed up a wide receiver pass from Shane Cornali to Huey for a crucial 20-yard pickup. Garry said Fort Cherry utilized the same play in last year’s WPIAL championship win against South Side, and it went for a touchdown.
“Just like last year, it was kind of a similar thing,” said Cornali, who also led the team with four receptions for 65 yards. “I just saw [Huey] alone to my right, I threw it out there, and I got pretty excited when he caught it.”
The Rangers narrowly averted a disaster when Huey recovered his own third-down fumble in the red zone, setting up a fourth-and-5 situation with the game on the line. After faking a handoff and sprinting to his left, Sieg was surrounded by a trio of Bears defenders, but he somehow managed to spin around and fire a pass to a wide-open Huey just before getting taken to the ground. Huey did the rest, walking untouched into the end zone for a 13-yard TD that Fort Cherry fans will surely never forget.
“It’s a testament to everybody,” Sieg said. “Both [championships] were obviously amazing feelings. This one, I feel like all year was different, because we had to defend what we had won last time. I feel like we had a target on our back all year, whereas last year we kind of snuck up on some people. We were no secret [this year].
“To be able to get this done with a target on our backs was definitely special.”
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at srotstein@unionprogress.com.
