PIAA Class 1A Semi-Final Preview: Fort Cherry

Tagged under: District 7, News, pfn, Playoffs

LukeAndruscik | November 30, 2023

Fort Cherry vs Redbank Valley, Friday December 1st at 7:00 PM

Farrell High School

How did they get here? 1A Bracket HERE

2023 Schedule

Season Recap 

After defeating the South Side Rams in 1A WPIAL Championship, the Fort Cherry Rangers are set to play the Redbank Valley Bulldogs in the state semifinals. The Rangers are looking to continue their perfect season by getting past the Bulldogs and moving on to Hershey. Let’s see how the Rangers got to this point. 

Through the first five weeks of the season, Fort Cherry averaged 47.8 points per game while only allowing an average of 5 points per game. While allowing those numbers, the Rangers would start 5-0. In week six, Fort Cherry had to face their hardest test in Bishop Canevin. The Rangers won that game 48-41 after stopping the Crusaders deep inside Rangers territory late in the game.  Fort Cherry would end up sweeping the rest of their schedule, ending the regular season with a record of 10-0. The Rangers would go on to blow out Jefferson Morgan by a score of 50-16 and then shut out the Rochester Rams 42-0. In the district semifinals, the Rangers met the Bishop Canevin Crusaders again. After trailing the Crusaders 21-20 heading into the fourth quarter, the legend of Sophomore quarterback Matt Sieg continued, leading the Rangers past Bishop Canevin by a score of 33-21. The Rangers would go on to play at Acrisure Stadium and beat the South Side Rams 42-28. 

Keys on Offense: 

While averaging 45.4 points per game, Fort Cherry has established themselves as one of the best offenses in district 7. The leader of this stellar offense has been sophomore Matt Sieg. Sieg has stumped opposing defenses using both his arm and his legs. To this point, Sieg has thrown for 20 touchdowns while only throwing 3 interceptions. He added a WPIAL leading 35 touchdowns on the ground this season. Sieg continued his dominance with 4 total touchdowns against South Side last week while also intercepting Brody Almashy, the quarterback for South Side. Shane Cornali and Ethan Faletto have been the favorite targets for Matt Sieg this season. Cornali and Faletto combined for 3 touchdowns last week. The defense from Redbank Valley has only allowed an average of 12.5 points per game. If one thing is for certain, Fort Cherry will need to put big numbers on the board to defeat the longtime powerhouse of District 9, Redbank Valley Bulldogs. 

Keys on Defense: 

The offense may be stellar, but we cannot overlook the impact of this Rangers defense. While posting four shutouts, the Rangers defense has allowed an average of only 12.4 points per game. 31% of the points they gave up came against Bishop Canevin. Redbank Valley is at the offensive level of Fort Cherry and Bishop Canevin, averaging 47.2 points per game. The defenses of both Fort Cherry and Redbank Valley match up evenly. Do not be surprised if this game is low scoring and if the final score is separated by only one score. 

The winner of this game will go on to play the winner of South Williamsport and Steelton-Highspire in the PIAA Finals.

Twitter: @LukeAndruscik

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