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Clairton Bears fall short in 1A WPIAL Championship against Fort Cherry

Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News, Playoffs

| November 23, 2024

The Clairton Bears lost to the Fort Cherry Rangers 21-20 with the storyline being a tale of two halves. 

Clairton coming into today had never allowed more than seven points in a single game all year being one of the best defenses in all the WPIAL.

Clairton started the game on defense, and like they had done all year got the stop. The Bears blocked the punt, but after touching a Clairton defender, Fort Cherry’s Nathan Wolfe fell on top of it, giving Fort Cherry another offensive opportunity. 

During that second drive, Brandon Murphy recovered the bad snap fumble from Fort Cherry, getting the Bears the ball at their own 20-yard line with a little under seven minutes left in the first quarter. 

After trading punts, it took one play and 79 yards for Mike Ruffin with the direct snap and scored for Clairton, giving them the first points of the game. The Bears went for the two-point conversion, but Fort Cherry’s defense stood tall at the two-yard line.

Clairton’s defense came back onto the field, but the Rangers responded in Matt Sieg rushing touchdown making the score 7-6 with under two minutes in the first quarter.

After trading punts again, Clairton’s defense for the first time all season gave up a second touchdown. This came on another Sieg rushing touchdown. Another first on the season: the Bears were down entering halftime 14-6. 

Coming out of halftime, Clairton’s offense responded quickly. Drachir Jones ran it 58 yards to the endzone. The Bears got their two-point conversion and less than two minutes into the new half the game was tied at 14. 

Jones said after the game how that moment felt helping Clairton tie up the game and score in the endzone of Acrisure stadium.

“It felt great; especially to help lead our team,” Jones said. 

Clairton’s defense in the third quarter was back to how the team had been playing all season, forcing two punts on Fort Cherry’s first two drives.

The Bear’s offense found the endzone near the end of the third quarter with another Ruffin from three yards out. After the failed two point conversion Clairton led 20-14 with 15 seconds left in the third quarter. 

After safety Jaece Booker intercepted Sieg’s pass early in the fourth quarter, Clairton began to drive down the field. Unfortunately for Clairton, they were held to a fourth down play they could not convert and gave the ball back to Fort Cherry with seven and a half minutes left in the game.

Clairton’s defense allowed a 13-play, 82-yard drive that ended in a Ryan Huey 13-yard receiving touchdown. The Rangers lead 21-20 over the Bears with just over two and a half minutes left in the game. 

“We were in Cover Zero, kind of just lost him,” head coach Wayne Wade Jr. said. “We had to move kids around due to injuries.” 

Clairton was unable to score on the responding drive, leading to Fort Chery taking victory formation. 

Wade said despite the loss in the championship, this year is still a success.

“We had a great year,” Wade said. “A ton of success and we have nothing to hang our heads about.”

Wade continued to preach the hard work and dedication of his football team. 

“We’re sending 26 to 28 kids to play 14, 15, 16 games and sometimes kids get hurt,” Wade said. “This shows the heart of a champion; these kids are champions, we just fell short tonight.” 

Clairton finishes their season 13-1 and the runner ups in the Class 1A WPIAL Championship. 

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