The WPIAL 1A semifinals will be played on Friday night at neutral sites (Hopewell and Fox Chapel). The 1A champion will be crowned at Acrisure Stadium in the first game of the day on November 22 and enter the State brackets the following week in the semifinals. The WPIAL Champion will face the Champion from District 9 or District 10. All year, 1A has looked like a guaranteed rematch between Fort Cherry and Clairton after the way both teams dominated the regular season. But a shadow of doubt has been cast over that as Jeannette broke through against Clairton’s defense last week and gave the Bears all they could handle. Clairton prevailed, setting up a rematch of last year’s semifinal against Bishop Canevin.
Check out this week’s edition of the WPIAL Blitz Show where we broke down all of the playoff matchups!
1. Fort Cherry (12-0) vs 4. Laurel (11-1)
at Hopewell
Fort Cherry is the two-time defending WPIAL Champions and have won 40 straight games against WPIAL opponents. Fort Cherry is led by senior QB Matt Sieg, who earlier in his career was the first freshman member of the 1000/1000 club then just the second player to reach the threshold twice. This season he played through an injury so Fort Cherry did not ask him to throw as much as he did in past years. Sieg still finished the season with 403 passing yards and 8 TDs along with 1612 rushing yards and 28 TDs. This season Seig broke the WPIAL career total yardage record and Mike Vernillo’s school rushing record, placing him second on the WPIAL’s all-time rushing list. With Sieg playing through injury, Fort Cherry almost exclusively ran the ball over the second half of the season. In addition to Sieg, there were plenty of opportunities for juniors Eli Salvini (906 yards, 19 TDs) and Ryan Huey (619 yards, 12 TDs). Salvini scored 3 touchdowns in the Rangers opening round win over Avella and two more last week against Neshannock.
Laurel, on the other hand, last appeared in the semifinals in 2009. The Spartans started the season with three wins over 2A playoff teams from the Midwestern Conference. Their only loss came against Bishop Canevin and they rolled through Big Seven Conference play. Laurel has traditionally been a run-heavy team but opened up the offense with QB Luca Santini (1255 yards, 20 TDs) who broke the school’s career passing record this season. The Spartans will do everything they can to get the ball in the hands of Swiss Army Knife Kolton Carlson who leads the team in receiving (658 yards), rushing (767 yards), and scoring (19 total TDs). In last week’s win over Chartiers-Houston, Carlson had over 200 yards of total offense and scored twice. The Spartans lead back is Nathan Hill (667 yards, 15 total TDs) who will get his share of work in the ground game.
2. Clairton (11-1) vs 3. Bishop Canevin (9-3)
at Fox Chapel
Clairton has put together one of the greatest defensive seasons in WPIAL history. They allowed 19 points in Week 0 against Imani Christian then did not give up a point the rest of the year until last week against Jeannette. The Jayhawks seemed to crack the code of Clairton’s defense and the rivals wound up in a back-and-forth struggle that Clairton won 38-33 thanks to a late interception by sophomore Brandon Murphy. During the regular season, Clairton’s defense scored 5 touchdowns meaning their defense put more points on the board (30) than they allowed (19). Clairton is also the highest-scoring team in the entire WPIAL at 51 points per game. This year’s Clairton team has revolved around the passing attack led by senior QB Jeff Thompson III (2062 yards, 33 TDs). Sophomore star Brandon Murphy leads the receiving corps with 534 yards and 7 TDs (plus 4 rushing scores) and has D1 offers as a defensive end where he has 14 TFLs, 4 sacks, and 2 interceptions (including a pick-six). The Bears have a plethora of options in the receiving game with Taris Wooding (509 yards, 8 TDs) and all-around talents Donte Wright (499 receiving yards, 240 rushing yards, 17 total TDs) and Michael Ruffin (406 receiving yards, 176 rushing yards, 9 total TDs). Deon Lovelace-Pompey is a standout linebacker who also leads the Bears in rushing with 723 yards and 13 TDs (including two last week).
Bishop Canevin’s regular season got off to a bumpy start with losses to Clarkson North (Canada) and Seton LaSalle. But they turned things around with wins over Laurel and Steel Valley before hitting conference play where their only loss came to Fort Cherry. Canevin has been forced to make some adjustments in the playoffs as starting QB Brady Wagner (868 yards, 13 TDs) was ruled ineligible for the postseason by the WPIAL after his offseason transfer from Mt. Lebanon. Star WR Damar Olds (402 yards, 6 TDs) stepped in at quarterback in the opening round and showed off his athletic abilities, throwing for 345 yards and 5 TDs and running for 125 yards and 7 scores. Last week Olds had over 150 yards of total offense, a passing touchdown, rushing touchdown and a pick-six on defense. The Crusaders have a back with game-breaking ability in Myontae Mott (1037 yards, 18 TDs) who averages over 13 yards per carry and ran for 161 yards and 2 TDs touchdown against Frazier last week. Olds’ transition to quarterback has been eased by having a talented receiver on the outside in Justin Melvin (624 yards, 8 TDs) who was on the receiving end of both TD passes against GCC and one against Frazier.
