For those of you that have followed our WPIAL coverage on Steel City Blitz for a while, you’ll recall my project of attempting to visit every high school football stadium in Western Pennsylvania. This is a first-person account of my family visiting different towns and stadiums throughout the region and the things we learned about the areas. After not being able to make it to any games last year, the Tour of the WPIAL got back on the road this year. The South Park visit was our 11th trip. You can check out the summaries of our previous visits to Rochester, Southmoreland, West Greene, Sto-Rox, Laurel, Belle Vernon, Seneca Valley, Dormont Stadium (to see both Keystone Oaks and Bishop Canevin), and Laurel Highlands. We also visited Mapletown in 2022 but I never got around to writing a summary of that visit. Last year our only visit was to South Park. This year, we finally got out to a game at the newly renovated Jim Garry Stadium, home of the two-time defending WPIAL 1A Champions Fort Cherry!
Fort Cherry
Nickname: Rangers
WPIAL Championships: 2 (2023, 2024)
PIAA Championships: 0 (Lost in 2023 State Championship Game)
Municipalities: McDonald Borough, Midway Borough, Robinson Twp, Mount Pleasant Twp
Town History
McDonald Borough spans the Allegheny County and Washington County line, while the other three municipalities that make up Fort Cherry are fully located within Washington County.
The school district is named for the historic “Cherry’s Fort” a family-owned frontier fort that was built by European settlers in the early 1770s. The fort was established by Thomas Cherry in 1774 after his family moved to the frontier from northern Virginia where the profitability of his tobacco farm was significantly impacted by the British Credit Crisis of 1772-73. Cherry purchased three tracts of land in what is now Mount Pleasant Twp. The Fort itself was established at the outset of Lord Dunmore’s War between English colonists of Virginia and Native American tribes of the Ohio valley to serve as refuge and protection for the settlers of the area. Cherry’s Fort was a triangular arrangement of three log buildings connected by stockade walls. Many of the frontier forts back in pre-revolutionary era were not staffed by soldiers but rather the frontiersmen themselves served as “rangers.” Unfortunately, the Fort itself was lost to the passage of time, but the Historic Fort Cherry Association has done excellent work cataloging accounts and parsing out historical facts. Mount Pleasant Township was established in 1806. Interestingly, next year (2026) when the Township celebrates its 220th Anniversary, they will open a time capsule that was buried in the lobby floor of their municipal building when it was built in 1976.
McDonald was originally settled by John McDonald in 1775 as a trading outpost. In the 1860s to serve the local mining communities a railroad connection was made through the town and it was incorporated into a Borough in 1889. Shortly thereafter, oil was discovered and the town saw a boom throughout the 1890s.
Robinson Twp was established in 1781 as one of the original townships of Washington County. It similarly was the home of rural frontiersmen and their families in the post-war era. Several small forts were established throughout the area including Beelor’s Fort which was established by Sam Beelor when he moved to the frontier from Virginia in 1774. Multiple accounts note Beelor’s Fort as the center for social and religious activities in the area and later the Raccoon Presbyterian Church was constructed nearby. Interestingly, multiple accounts exist of women out-running native American raiding parties to seek shelter at Fort Beelor and then subsequently giving birth while the Fort was under attack.
The railroad expansion was one of the key catalysts in bringing development to the area. In addition to the Montour Railroad that ran through McDonald, the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St Louis Railway (“Panhandle Route” for shorthand) ran through Midway Borough. The Borough itself was named because it was the halfway stopping point between Pittsburgh and Steubenville, Ohio. The Panhandle Route originated through several mergers of rail companies in the 1860s and ownership passed to the Pennsylvania Railroad in the 1920s. In recent years, with the rail lines no longer active, the Montour Trail and the Panhandle Trail have been built in the old railbeds and provide scenic biking and walking routes through these communities and several others in Western Pennsylvania.
Football History
Fort Cherry School District was formed in 1954 that brought together schools from the four member municipalities but the unified high school did not open until 1960. In the last few years before the merger of teams, McDonald had boasted a strong football team, losing in the WPIAL Class B Championship Games of 1953 and 1954. Midway won the 1956 Class B Championship 45-6 over Neville. Fort Cherry’s first season as a combined football team was in 1958. Jim Garry, who was McDonald’s coach in their final season, led the Rangers program for 44 years until he retired in 2002. The Garry family has been an institution at Fort Cherry for three generations. Jim Garry is the grandfather of current head coach Tanner Garry and is a member of the Pennsylvania Football Hall of Fame.
Midway High School, one of the predecessors to Fort Cherry, also had a rich football tradition. Midway produced Ralph Felton who was drafted by the Washington Redskins in 1954 and Dick Haley who spent time with the Redskins, Vikings, and Steelers in the early 1960s before moving into football operations where he became the Steelers Director of player personnel. Dick Haley’s son Todd would also have an NFL coaching career, including a stint as Steelers offensive coordinator.
While Fort Cherry is one of the smaller districts in Western Pennsylvania, they are known for producing multiple players who went on to the NFL. Marty Schottenheimer, long-time NFL coach of the Browns, Chiefs, Redskins, and Chargers was part of one of the first full classes through Fort Cherry after the merger. Schottenheimer graduated in 1960 before going on to an All-American career at Pitt. Additionally, Marvin Lewis who coached the Bengals in the 2000s hailed from McDonald Borough and was a Fort Cherry alum. Lewis was a quarterback and safety on the Fort Cherry teams of the mid-1970s.
After the merger in the 1950s, Fort Cherry did not reach the playoffs until 1982. The Rangers made it to the semifinals in 1987 and 1994 before runs to the WPIAL Championship Game in 1997 and 2001. In 1997 they fell to Riverview 19-14 and in 2001 they lot to defending champions Rochester 27-19. The Fort Cherry squads of the late 90s were led by Mike Vernillo who graduated as the WPIAL’s all-time leading rusher with 7,646 yards. Current head coach Tanner Garry was the quarterback of the 2001 squad.
The Rangers are the two-time defending WPIAL Champions, capturing their first title in school history in 2023 when they defeated South Side Beaver 42-28. The 2023 team reached the State Championship Game where they lost to powerhouse Steelton-Highspire. Last year, the Rangers once again ran unbeaten through the WPIAL and defended their title with a thrilling Championship Game victory over Clairton where they threw the game-winning touchdown pass on 4th down with about a minute to play.
The catalyst for Fort Cherry’s recent run of success is quarterback Matt Sieg. As a freshman, Sieg became the first player to join the 1000/1000 club by rushing and throwing for over 1000 yards in the same regular season. He repeated the feat as a sophomore, becoming just the second player in WPIAL history to be a two-time member of the club. (Shady Side Academy’s Skyy Moore is the other). As a junior, Sieg had an early-season injury that limited his throwing ability but still led the team in rushing. Sieg entered his senior season with 4,231 passing yards and 51 TDs and 6,211 rushing yards and 109 total TDs between rushing, kick returns, and defense. Earlier this year, Sieg passed his head coach Tanner Garry’s mark as the school’s all-time passing leader (4,502 yards).
Our Visit
Fort Cherry entered the Week 7 game against Bishop Canevin as the two-time defending WPIAL Champions, having won their last 35 games against WPIAL opponents and their last 21 conference games. Both streaks were the longest active runs in the WPIAL. Fort Cherry’s high school and the recently renovated Jim Garry Stadium sit atop the bucolic hills of northern Washington County. Surrounded by farmland, the sun peeks over the hilltops as it sets, providing a scenic backdrop to the stadium. The locker rooms are in the school facility so both teams have to walk the switchback path down the hill to enter the field.
Matt Sieg led the team down the hill, with the team giving high-fives to every kid they passed along the way. Sieg entered the game just 33 yards shy of Sto-Rox’s Lenny Williams career record for total offensive yardage (11,559). After a false start penalty, Sieg took the first offensive snap of the game on a designed run over the right side, stepped around some defenders, and took off back across the field all the way to the house for a 70-yard touchdown. The raucous crowd would get a quick reminder that Bishop Canevin, who was also unbeaten in conference play, had some talented players as star receiver Demar Olds caught a bomb down the sideline for a 77-yard touchdown on the Crusaders third play. Canevin missed the extra point which gave Fort Cherry a 7-6 advantage that the would not relinquish.
After an exchange of punts, Fort Cherry was able to put together a drive that looked ready to stall out when more Matt Sieg magic happened. Facing a 4th and long at the Canevin 28 yard line, Sieg again went over the right side and broke through a hole in the defense for his second touchdown of the night. One of the most impressive aspects of watching Fort Cherry play is the total team effort on every play. While they mostly ran the ball, even the backs, receivers, and tight ends who were not involved in the play consistently did their part with downfield blocking and backside blocks to open up holes for the ball-carriers.
In addition to Sieg, Fort Cherry has a talented backfield duo of juniors Eli Salvini and Ryan Huey. We happened to be sitting next to Eli Salvini’s grandparents in the stands, who were also Fort Cherry alums, and got to hear their family story of raising five kids on a farm. Overall, the whole crowd and atmosphere was very welcoming to our family and the passion and tradition of the school and program were evident everywhere. We have been to several small (1A and 2A) schools during our “Tour of the WPIAL” and Fort Cherry absolutely had the best crowd so far. The stands were packed. Everyone around us was very nice to myself and my kids and talked with us throughout the game.
Bishop Canevin scored again on a 16-yard touchdown run by Myontae Mott early in the second quarter but missed the two-point conversion that would have tied the game. From there, Fort Cherry’s ground game took over. Mixing in Sieg, Huey, and Salvini the Rangers scored two more times with each running back finding paydirt before halftime. Fort Cherry’s band put on an impressive performance of old-time hits for their halftime show. As a marching band alumnus, I always enjoy seeing bands that still march and play and roll-step like we were drilled to do.
Matt Sieg took over after halftime, scoring on a 46-yard run for his third touchdown of the night. Fort Cherry’s defense would lock down the Crusaders, forcing a punt from deep in their own end. Sieg fielded the bouncing punt near midfield and cut across from right to left, catching a few blocks and charging his way into the end zone. Canevin would answer back with another Myontae Mott touchdown run, but Fort Cherry’s ground game was just too much to stop. Eli Salvini capped off a night of tough running with a 29-yard touchdown to give the Rangers a commanding 49-19 lead at the end of the third quarter.
From the entrance gate (and by the bathrooms) the waning Harvest Moon, a few days after the full moon which qualified as a “supermoon” as it was the largest moon of the year., was able to be seen through the treetops just beyond the scoreboard. The reddish tint of the moon provided a great backdrop to the final quarter of action. Matt Sieg capped off an impressive performance with an 86-yard pick-six to enact the mercy rule and clinch the conference title for Fort Cherry. Sieg finished the night with 285 rushing yards and 5 total touchdowns. Salvini finished with 98 yards and 2 TDs and Huey added 50 yards and a score. Fort Cherry only attempted one pass the whole night en route to a 56-19 victory.
Overall, we had a great trip to Fort Cherry. The crowd was awesome, the fans were very welcoming, and the community pride was evident throughout the stadium. It seemed like everyone in the district came out to support the team on Friday night. From talking to people in the stands, the sense of tradition and community pride runs deep with multiple generations of families staying in the area. This is evident at the top with the Garry tradition at head coach but also throughout the roster with players like Eli Salvini and others having several family members who also played for the Rangers. To boil it down to one word, Fort Cherry had a very familial atmosphere, and I would highly recommend a trip to the Washington County hilltops to go see the Rangers play.
