Sieg Leads Game-Winning Drive as Fort Cherry Captures Second-Straight Class 1A WPIAL Title

PITTSBURGH — The No. 1 Fort Cherry Rangers and star athlete Matt Sieg had its sights set on defending its only WPIAL title in school history when it met one of the most dominant two-way teams in recent memory in the No. 2 Clairton Bears for the Class-1A Championship Game.

Thanks to late-game heroics by Sieg and running back Ryan Huey, Fort Cherry defeated Clairton, 21-20, for its second-consecutive 1A title at Acrisure Stadium Saturday afternoon.

It came down to a fourth-down play deep into Clairton territory as Sieg looked in trouble but released a prayer of a pass to the sideline where Huey was standing wide open. Huey took it 13 yards for the go-ahead score.

Unbelievable!

Fort Cherry touchdown as Sieg looks in trouble on a broken play, but he manages to find Ryan Huey all by his lonesome for the 13-yd TD.

With the XP, Fort Cherry takes the lead.

Fort Cherry — 21
Clairton — 20

2:34 4Q pic.twitter.com/PhYFzVg52m

— Nathan Breisinger (@NateBreisinger) November 23, 2024

Sieg, who is the only player in WPIAL history to throw for more than 4,000 yards and rush for more than 6,000, finished the game completing 8-of-15 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown, along with 87 yards on the ground and two scores.

Clairton, a team that scored a WPIAL-best 51.8 points per game, totaled 335 yards on the ground that was showcased by two explosive touchdowns of 79 and 58 yards.

Fort Cherry’s opening drive was shut down by the Bears defense once it moved past midfield, but the Rangers were gifted a new possession in excellent field position on the punt. At first, it looked promising for Clairton as Zaemear Correll got a hand on the kick, but it eventually touched a Bear down field, resulting in a live ball. Fort Cherry pounced on it setting the Rangers up at Clairton 25.

Much like on the first drive, Sieg found success in the pass game as he hit his top receiver in senior Shane Cornali for a 25-yard pickup. However, with the Rangers knocking on the doorstep at the 6, the snap came out high on Sieg and slipped right through his hands as Clairton’s Brandon Murphy dove and secured the fumble.

Murphy — a 6-1, 170-pound freshman with offers from Syracuse, Temple and Akron — was all over the field defensively for the Bears in the first half as he flew into the backfield a drive later on third down to drop Rangers’ running back Ryan Huey for a 7-yard loss.

On the first play of the ensuing drive, Clairton broke the ice as junior Mike Ruffin took the direct snap, motored left and then hit a hole with plenty of green grass in front of him. He would cut back across midfield and race for a 79-yard touchdown to make it 6-0 Clairton.

Clairton’s Mike Ruffin takes off for a 79-yard touchdown run. Nov. 23, 2024 // Ed Thompson. PSN.

With Clairton limiting the Fort Cherry ground game through a majority of the first quarter, Sieg continued to push it down field, finding a wide-open Evan Rogers, who went unnoticed behind the Clairton secondary, picking up 44 yards. Sieg went 5-of-7 for 102 yards through the air in the first half.

Once in the red zone, Sieg had his number called on back-to-back runs as he scored on the latter from 4 yards out. Sieg’s score was the first touchdown given up by the Bears in the playoffs.

The Penn State commit wouldn’t be done in the first half on the ground as he would lead the Rangers on another scoring drive that started in plus territory at the 45. Sieg broke off his first sizable run of 20 yards on the first play. With 19 seconds in the half, Sieg took the snap, sped to the left and scored around the edge for a 1-yard touchdown to extend the Rangers lead to 14-6 going into the locker room.

Matt Sieg goes around the edge for his second TD of the game.

It’s a 1-yd run for the junior.

Fort Cherry — 14
Clairton — 6

0:19 1Q pic.twitter.com/N5v1Jni0TU

— Nathan Breisinger (@NateBreisinger) November 23, 2024

Clairton hit its second home run touchdown of the game to open the third quarter as senior Drahcir Jones, who entered the game with 1,362 yards rushing yards and 23 touchdowns, added to that total with an explosive run straight up the middle for 58 yards. The Bears would convert on their two-point attempt on a Ruffin rush to tie the game 14-14.

For the first time since the first quarter, Clairton was back in front as Ruffin took the toss left and wheeled around the edge for a 3-yard touchdown, making it 20-14 Bears with 0:15 left in the third quarter.

With the Fort Cherry stumbling through most of the second half, Sieg struggled to move the ball down the field, which was highlighted by an interception.

The Rangers needed its junior phenom to make just one play in crunch time, and he did.

On fourth-and-5 with less than three minutes to play, the Rangers looked like they wanted to resort to a trick play that worked previously on the drive for a big gain. However, the play was broken and Sieg looked in trouble. In a last-ditch effort, he found Ryan Huey all by his lonesome back across the field near the sideline. The sophomore brought it in and scored on the 13-yard play to put Fort Cherry back in front, 21-20.

Ruffin led the way on the ground for the Bears with 162 yards and two scores, while Jones ran for 90.

Fort Cherry now takes on Port Allegany, the District 9 champion who beat Wilmington in the quarterfinals 38-20, in the Class 1A PIAA semifinals on next weekend with a specific date, time and location still to be determined.