Fort Cherry wins back-to-back 1A WPIAL Championship

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Annabelle Aquino | November 23, 2024

The Fort Cherry Rangers defeated the Clairton Bears 21-20 in the 1A WPIAL Championship game. The Rangers defended their title from last year, making this their second WPIAL Championship victory.

“They did a fantastic job coming out and playing our style,” said Fort Cherry head coach Tanner Garry. “ We wanted to show from an early going that this is a little different than anyone else they’ve seen.”

Fort Cherry began their first drive with a pass from Penn State commit Matt Sieg to Shane Cornali to push the Rangers up the field. After recovering their own blocked punt, Fort Cherry had a high snap on the 4-yard line, and Clairton dove on the recovery.

Strong defense from both teams led to 4th downs for the Bears and Rangers on their next drives.

“It was a great job by our defense to rally, tackle, and do all the hard things,” Garry said.

On the Bears’ following drive, Mike Ruffin from Clairton rushed 79 yards for a touchdown, but the Bears could not complete the 2-point conversion. Clairton led 6-0 with 2:58 left in the first.

The Rangers battled back, and Sieg ended up in the endzone with 1:46 left in the first. After Nick Massey kicked the extra point, Fort Cherry led 7-6.

QB @matt_sieg dances in from the 1 yard line and its 14-6 @FortCherryFB over @CCSDathletes 2Q 0:19 @PaFootballNews @gingeryinzer09 pic.twitter.com/edkopCl5M2

— CC Hastings (@CCHastings1863) November 23, 2024

The Rangers continued their momentum with big tackles from Ryan Huey and Tyler Wolfe. On 4th and 25, Clairton kicked off. Fort Cherry’s next drive ended in a similar result, punting off on 4th down.

After Fort Cherry regained the ball because of big tackles made by Wolfe, Sieg rushed for a first down, then led back-to-back rushes to the 1-yard line. Sieg then rushed to the endzone with 19 seconds left in the second. Fort Cherry led 14-6 to end the half.

Fort Cherry lost their momentum in the third. Clairton’s Drahcir Jones scored a touchdown and the successful 2-point conversion from Ruffin tied the game 14-14.

Clairton’s Ruffin found the endzone again off a pitch from QB Jeff Thompson at the end of the 3rd. After an unsuccessful 2-point conversion, the Bears led 20-14 to end the third.

After a 13-play, 82-yard drive, Fort Cherry regained their lead. Sieg threw to Huey for a touchdown with just over 2:34 left in the game. Massey kicked the extra point to take over 21-20.

“Everyone starting celebrating. We were all worn down, but it was a great feeling,” said Huey.

TOUCHDOWN RANGERS SCORED BY Ryan Huey making the score @FortBooster 21@CCSDathletes 20

2:34 left in the ball game @PaFootballNews @CCHastings1863 @SpozarskiEthan pic.twitter.com/KkLhZLfTHV

— Ryan Thielet (@gingeryinzer09) November 23, 2024

With no timeouts left, Clairton struggled to get past the Rangers. A huge sack by Eli Salvini ended the game. Fort Cherry 21, Clairton 20.

“Nobody thought we could do it, and we did it,” said Ranger Joey Klose.

The Rangers will move on to play Port Allegany in the PIAA semi-finals.

“We’ve learned from last year that you can’t sink back down and get too high after this one” said Garry. “You go from being in Acrisure to playing in another high school field.”

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