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Speed Kills: Clairton Suffocates Marauders to Claim Class A Crown

Tagged under: District 6, District 7, Gameday Hub, News, pfn, Playoffs

| December 4, 2025

It was a second-quarter drive for Bishop Guilfoyle that covered 8:34. Down 14-0, the Marauders drove into the red zone. But a pass in the flat with no blockers, a fumbled snap, and a Justin Wheeler heave into the end zone under heavy duress left the Marauders settling for a 28-yard field goal. The momentum from that defensive effort carried over early into the second half when Deon Lovelace-Pompey picked off Wheeler and took it to the house for a 22-3 lead. The Bears held Guilfoyle to -1 net rushing yards on the afternoon and only 77 total yards of offense. Quick to the ball every snap, the Bears racked up five sacks and 10 tackles for loss on their way to a 35-3 rout.

Clairton’s opening drive didn’t go as planned on what ended up being a lateral pass from Justin Wheeler to Deon Lovelace-Pompey. Lovelace-Pompey stopped for a moment, believing the pass was an incompletion, but Jake Kissell dove in and took it as the ball remained live. Unfortunately for the Marauders, they only gained six yards on their ensuing drive and had to punt.

The second Bears drive kept the Guilfoyle defense on the field for just over five minutes, as they drove ten plays and 65 yards. Jeff Thompson fumbled at the Marauder 5-yard line for a loss of eight, but Brandon Murphy took a pass in the flat and skated up the sideline for a 14-yard touchdown. With 1:55 to go in the first quarter, Clairton was on the board and leading 6-0. Along the way, Murphy also pulled in a 35-yard grab in tight coverage to flip the field position.

Three plays later, Guilfoyle was in trouble again as Tahvaz Armstrong recovered a fumble on the Marauder 33. Lovelace-Pompey took it in from 29 yards out for a 14-0 lead, exploding through the right side of the line and going untouched.

Then came the 17-play drive for the Marauders. Clairton had been penalty-free before this drive, but an illegal substitution, a personal foul, roughing the passer, and a facemask penalty aided Guilfoyle’s movement. But it was domination by the defensive line and speed on the outside that closed things down in the red zone for the Bears, keeping Guilfoyle to a short field goal. Clairton tried to get a quick drive going after that, but came up short on the Clairton 33. At halftime, Clairton led 14-3.

And then things went from bad to worse for Bishop Guilfoyle. On the third play of their third-quarter opening drive, Lovelace-Pompey snagged the Wheeler pass and quickly ran free into the end zone. It was quickly 21-6, and that took any remaining air out of the Guilfoyle sails. The Marauders went on to have -15 total yards in the third quarter, stuffed at every turn. They tried going for it on fourth down twice, but came up with a short run and an incompletiom.

Meanwhile, the Bears put up 355 total yards, mixing it up fairly evenly between the run and pass game. Guilfoyle did hold Clairton on downs at the BG 16, but on the next Bears drive, Donte Wright took a short pass and turned it into a 50-yard gain. Lovelace-Pompey then took it in from seven yards out to balloon the lead to 28-6.

Wheeler was hounded all day and sacked five times. Tahvaz Armstrong and Avaughn Pompey added key ones in the second half, long after the run game had been taken away from the Marauders. The Bears tacked on one more score thanks to a 20-yard Taris Wooding 20-yard touchdown jaunt.

Deon Lovelace-Pompey led the Clairton ground game with 84 yards, followed closely by Donte Wright with 65. Jeff Thompson passed for 184 yards and two touchdowns, completing 13 of his 15 passes. The title marks the first for Clairton since 2012.

Jeff Thompson talked about his performance, “I feel like I’ve made a name for myself, because we haven’t won a championship since 2012…I feel like I was the leader of this team, and I feel like we brought this one back to Clairton.”

Clairton 35 Bishop Guilfoyle 3

Score by Quarters

Clairton – 6 8 21 0 – 35

Bishop Guilfoyle – 0 3 0 0 – 3

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C – Brandon Murphy 14 yd pass from Jeff Thompson, (pass failed), 1:55

Second Quarter

C – Deon Lovelace-Pompey 29 yd run, (Donte Wright rush), 11:01

BG – Carter Boland 28 yd field goal, 2:23

Third Quarter

C – Lovelace-Pompey 24 yd interception return, (Thompson rush), 11:08

C – Lovelace-Pompey 7 yd run, (kick failed), 3:48

C – Taris Woodling 20 yd pass from Thompson, (Rhejon Williams pat), 1:16

Individual Stats

Rushing: C – Lovelace-Pompey 10-83, Wright 10-62, Tahvaz Armstrong 1-15, Murphy 2-7, Thompson 7-0, Robert Scott 1-(-1), Michael Ruffin 1-(-6), Team 1-(-1). Totals: 33-159. BG: Jake Kissell 10-21, Connor Okonak 2-3, Keegan Hewitt 1-0, Evan Schimminger 2-(-2), Justin Wheeler 10-(-33). Totals: 25-(-11).

Receiving: C – Wright 5-81, Murphy 6-76, Woodling 1-20, Jaece Booker 2-18. BG – Kissell 6-28, Schimminger 5-28, Tyson Lestochi 3-10.

Passing: C – Thompson 14-for-17, 195 yards, 2 TD. BG – Wheeler 12-for-15, 48 yards, Kissell 2-for-4, 18 yards.

Interceptions: C – Lovelace-Pompey.

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