Road To Hershey – Semifinals Recaps

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, December 12, 2010 | 12:00 AM

Three WPIAL football teams have had their ticket punched to the state championships next weekend in Hershey as North Allegheny in Class AAAA and South Fayette in Class AA on Saturday joined the defending PIAA Class A champion Clairton Bears en route to play in the state finals . Here are recaps of the district teams in action in Week 15.

Thanks to Randy Gore, Bob Gregg and Lee Mohn for their help on these recaps.

PIAA CLASS AAAA SEMIFINALS:
North Allegheny Tigers 35 – Cumberland Valley Eagles 17

For the first time since 1990, the North Allegheny Tigers will be playing for a state championship. North Allegheny earned a trip to Hershey next week by defeating the Cumberland Valley Eagles on Saturday afternoon in the PIAA semifinals, 35-17. The Eagles led 10-7 at halftime thanks to a 69-yard touchdown pass by Eric Sawyer to Rutgers recruit Kevin Snyder in the second quarter. North Allegheny jumped ahead 14-10 to start the third quarter on a halfback pass by Matt Steinbeck to a wide open Dan Slivka for a 32-yard score. From that point on the Tigers seized control of the game with a ball control offense and a stifling defense. After a CV three-and-out, North Allegheny put together an eight play, 58-yard drive that was capped on a Michael Buchert 2-yard touchdown run to increase the Tigers lead to 21-10 with 2:21 remaining in the third quarter. Following another Cumberland Valley three-and-out, the Tigers scored again on 1-yard touchdown run by Alex DiCiantis to up the score to 28-10 with 7:37 left on the fourth quarter clock. Four minutes later, NA put the game on ice on another short yardage scoring run by DiCiantis, his third of the game, to give the Tigers a 35-10 lead. CV scored the final touchdown of the contest when Sawyer connected with Snyder again for a 34-yard touchdown strike to bring the final score to 35-17. While DiCiantis provided three scoring runs and 97 rushing yards for the Tigers, the standout effort in this game belonged to Steinbeck. Playing for the first time in an extended role since re-aggravating an ankle injury in the WPIAL title game, Steinbeck rushed for 161 yards and accounted for the game changing halfback pass in the third quarter. The Tigers piled up 341 rushing yards while the Cumberland Valley vaunted Wing-T offense was held to just five yards rushing. North Allegheny will play LaSalle College for the PIAA title next Saturday at 5 p.m. in Hershey.

PIAA CLASS AA SEMIFINALS:
South Fayette Lions 49 – Forest Hills Rangers 12

South Fayette limited the Rangers to 87 yards rushing on the way to a 49-12 win over Forest Hills (13-2) in the PIAA Class AA semifinals Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, Christian Brumbaugh threw for 373 yards and six touchdowns as the WPIAL and PIAA passing record books are re-written by the Lions senior signal caller. The afternoon did not start well for South Fayette (15-0), playing in the PIAA semifinals for the first time ever. On the opening series, after a dropped screen pass, Brumbaugh threw to the right flat where his receiver fell down. Jared McCombie picked off the pass and returned it 60 yards for a touchdown just 89 seconds into the game. But Brumbaugh was unflapped, leading five straight South Fayette possessions to the endzone. Helped by a fourth-and-four offside penalty, the Lions took the lead when Tyler Yee booted the PAT following Brumbaugh's 9-yard scoring pass to Josh Patterson, the first of three times that connection found paydirt. After a three-and-out, the Lions were pinned deep in their own end with a wind-aided 47 yard punt out of bounds at the five. Six plays later, Jeff Davis scampered 50 yards for his 15th rushing touchdown of the season. The carry also put Davis over 100 yards in the first quarter. He finished with 147 on 14 runs, now totaling 198-1555 on the season. Ben Meredith made a toe-tapping interception on the next Forest Hills possessions, just the third time quarterback Justin Gdula was intercepted this season. Brumbaugh connected with Tyler Challingsworth for a 23 yard scoring pass, making it 21-6 at the end of the first quarter. The Lions' defense set up the next score when Tanner Courtad sacked Gdula, jarring the ball loose. Kevin Hitlan recovered at the Rangers' 13-yard line. Brumbaugh found Challingsworth from 13-yards out on the first play. Forest Hills, losing to a WPIAL team in the PIAA playoffs for the fifth time in six games, mounted their only offensive drive of the day to stay in the ballgame, going 80 yards in nine plays, capped off by Anthony Unger's 6 yard run to the corner. Brumbaugh needed just over a minute to get that score back, scrambling out of the pocket to his right, throwing on the run and find Patterson for a 35-yard touchdown, and a South Fayette 35-12 lead at the half. The second half saw only six combined possessions by the two teams, two of them ending in Lions touchdowns. Zach Challingsworth caught a 16-yard pass for the first and Patterson snared his third of the year and 13th of the season to close out the scoring. South Fayette racked up 155 yards rushing, 373 yards passing and 24 first downs in the game. Forest Hills managed just 80 yards through the air, and 167 total, picking up only 8 first downs. Tyler Challingsworth had 7 catches for 135 yards and two scores. Patterson caught 5 throws for 85 yards and three tds. In addition to his 147 yards rushing, Davis added four catches for another 76 yards. Nick Dudukovich ran 12 times for 63 yards, closing his senior season with 2103 yards for the year. Gdula finished 7-15-1 for 80 yards. Now, 9 days shy of 9 months since the Lions won the PIAA AA Basketball title at the Bryce Jordan Center, the football team travels to HersheyPark Stadium looking for the school's first-ever football state championship. South Fayette will face Philadelphia West Catholic, a 21-7 winner over Lewisburg at Hershey in the other semifinal.

PIAA CLASS A SEMIFINALS:
Clairton Bears 48 – Farrell Steelers 8

The Clairton Bears clicked on all cylinders and defeated District 10 champion Farrell 48-8 Friday night. Clairton is the defending state champion and they proved it against Farrell. Clairton defeated Farrell for the 3rd year in a row. The first two games were much closer but not this game. The first 8 minutes the game looked like it would be scoreless as both defenses dominated. Clairtion was able to put 2 big plays together to strike first. Desimon Green completed a 36 yard pass while getting drilled then Karvonn Coles ran around right end and scored from 33 yards out and it was 6-0. Clairton would capitalize on a Farrell turnover early in the 2nd. Josh Page picked up a backwards pass and returned it deep into Farrell territory and on the next play Desimon Green would score on a 10 yard run and the score was 13-0. Two minutes later Josh Page would return a punt 62 yards to make the score 19-0. Then the prettiest play of the night a 63 yard half back option. Tyler Boyd to Josh Page and Clairton was ahead 26-0. Another Farrell turnover and a 14 yard run by Green and Clairton was ahead by 32. Clairton closed out the scoring in the first half on a TD pass from Green to Page and the mercy rule was in place for the 2nd half. Some interesting numbers. Farrell ran 48 plays to Clairton's 26 plays. Farrell had the ball almost 34 minutes but only gained 92 total yards. They rushed 42 times for 65 yards. Clairton ran only 5 plays total in the 2nd and 3rd quarters combined but scored 40 points. Clairton will now play for the state title against Taylor Riverside Friday December 17th at 2pm and the game can be heard right here on the MSA Sports Network.

1st: 1:16 – Clairton 33 yard run Karvonn Coles 6-0
2nd: 9:51 – Clairton 10 yard run Desimon Green 13-0
2nd: 7:14 – Clairton 62 yard punt return Josh Paige 19-0
2md: 4:46 – Clairton 63 yard pass Tyler Boyd to Josh Paige 26-0
2nd: 3:21 – Clairton 14 yard run Desimon Green 32-0
2nd: 1:25 – Clairton 15 yard pass Green to Page 38-0
3rd: 8:38 – Clairton 38 yard punt return 46-0
3rd: 1:10 – Farrell Malcolm Hallstock 4 yard run 46-8
4th: 2:53 – Clairton safety 48-8