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Laurel falls short in WPIAL 1A Championship

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

| November 22, 2025

A 2-point conversion stop was the difference in the WPIAL 1A Championship Game, as the Clairton Bears won an 8-6 game over the Laurel Spartans.

Senior Kolton Carlson’s 26 rushing yards led the Laurel run game that had 65 total yards. Senior quarterback Luca Santini was 4 for 9 passing for 29 yards.

“These guys have been through a lot the last three years and grown so much,” Laurel head coach Brian Cooper said. “I couldn’t be prouder of how our men fought throughout the course of the game. To me, that goes to our senior leadership.”

Laurel had the game’s opening possession from its own 34-yard line, moving the chains once before Carlson punted it away and pinned Clairton inside the 10.

Laurel then created the game’s first turnover, an interception from sophomore defensive back Tony Geiwitz five minutes into the game. The Spartans were not able to score points off the turnover, and Carlson pinned Clairton deep in its own territory for the second time.

Clairton turned it over on downs late in the first quarter and Laurel took over at the opposing 42-yard line. They got as close as the 11-yard line, but a couple of penalties caused the drive to stall out and it ended with a missed field goal.

Clairton’s next drive started from its own 22, the best starting field position for the Bears to that point. Laurel forced a three-and-out and benefitted from an errant snap on the punt, taking over at the Clairton 25. But, the second Laurel drive in a row ended in a missed field goal.

“Clairton had a great defense and those points were going to be tough,” Cooper said. “We settled for a couple field goal attempts, and unfortunately just fall a little bit short. That’s the difference between winning and losing.”

Deon Lovelace-Pompey went 69 yards for a Clairton score that was wiped off the board due to an offensive holding call. Clairton converted on fourth down a few plays later to keep the drive alive.

That drive eventually resulted in the game’s first score, a 12-yard touchdown pass from Jeff Thompson to Brandon Murphy with 36 seconds left in the first half. Donte Wright punched in the 2-point conversion to give Clairton an 8-0 lead into halftime.

 



Laurel attempted an onside kick coming out of the break, which ended up unsuccessful.

Despite a fourth-and-10 situation at the Laurel 16-yard line, Clairton elected to go for it. For the second time in the game, a penalty took a Clairton touchdown off the board as Donte Wright pushed off on sophomore linebacker Jackson McVicker to bring out an offensive pass interference call.

The Bears still elected to go for it on what was now fourth-and-25 and turned it over on downs. They got the ball back shortly after, forcing Laurel to punt.

Murphy, who caught the first touchdown of the game, leaked behind the Laurel secondary and dropped what would have been a second touchdown. Instead, Clairton turned it over on downs for the third time in the game.

Santini was sacked on back-to-back plays– the last play of the third quarter and the first play of the fourth quarter– forcing Laurel to punt once again.

The Laurel defense made quick work forcing a Clairton punt, which was partially blocked, giving Laurel the ball at the opposing 41 yard-line with just under 10 minutes left in the game.

Sophomore wideout Ethan Hamilla and Carlson drew defensive pass interference calls to set Laurel up in prime scoring position.

Senior running back Nathan Hill found the end zone to make it an 8-6 game with Laurel needing the 2-point conversion to tie. A group of Clairton Bears stuffed JJ McBride on an inside handoff to keep the score at 8-6 with five-and-a-half minutes to play.

“We went with what we felt was going to get us there,” Cooper said. “Unfortunately they were able to make a great defensive play.”

 



Laurel booted the kickoff deep and forced a fourth down one play after junior defensive lineman Alex Medved recorded his second sack of the game. Clairton tried a fake punt deep in its own territory, but got stopped short of the sticks.

Laurel took over at the Clairton 21, needing just a field goal to take the lead, but Carlson had the football stripped away and it was recovered by Clairton with 2:15 left in the game.

“I was getting ready to kick another one there,” Cooper said, despite the earlier missed field goals.

The Bears were able to run out the rest of the clock and win the WPIAL 1A Championship for the 15th time, the school’s first since 2019.

The loss marks Laurel’s first since Sept. 13. The Spartans’ season comes to an end at 12-2 as WPIAL 1A runner-ups.

For photos from the game, click here

For more information on the PIAA 1A Bracket, click the image below:

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