WPIAL Class A final by the numbers: Fort Cherry 42, South Side 28

By: Bill Hartlep
Friday, November 24, 2023 | 2:27 PM

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Fort Cherry 42, South Side 28

Fort Cherry 6-22-7-7 — 42

South Side 7-7-7-7 — 28

Scoring summary

FC: Matt Sieg 3 run (kick failed)

SS: Brody Almashy 1 run (Mateja Pavlovich kick)

SS: Andrew Corfield 3 run (Pavlovich kick)

FC: Shane Cornali 35 pass from Sieg (Sieg run)

FC: Ethan Faletto 7 pass from Cornali (Nick Massey kick)

FC: Cornali 22 pass from Sieg (Massey kick)

FC: Sieg 4 run (Massey kick)

SS: Almashy 25 run (Pavlovich kick)

FC: Faletto 3 run (Massey kick)

SS: Carter Wilson 45 pass from Almashy (Pavlovich kick)

Team statistics

FC … SS

First downs 24 … 16

Rushes-yards 57-274 … 31-257

Passing yards 173 … 50

Passing Comp-Att-Int 10-18-0 … 2-10-1

Total offense plays-yards 75-447 … 41-307

Punts (number-avg.) 2-45.0 … 1-32.0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 … 2-1

Penalties-yards 6-45 … 6-28

Possession time 30:10 … 17:47

Individual statistics

Rushing: FC: Matt Sieg 32-178, Ethan Faletto 19-87, Nathan Heirendt 5-11; SS: Brody Almashy 7-113, Andrew Corfield 15-98, Ryan Navarra 8-46

Passing: FC: Sieg 9-16-166-0INT-2TD, Shane Cornali 1-1-7-0INT-1TD; SS: Almashy 2-10-50-1INT-1TD

Receiving: FC: Cornali 4-91, Braydon Cook 3-51, Nik Massey 1-15, Evan Rodgers 1-9; SS: Carter Wilson 2-50

History-making Rangers

Fort Cherry celebrated the first WPIAL football title in program history Friday afternoon.

The Rangers were making their third WPIAL championship game appearance.

Fort Cherry lost to Riverview, 19-14, in the 1997 title game and to Rochester in the 2001 finals, 27-19.

Piling up points

South Side’s defense allowed just 8.7 points per game entering the WPIAL championship. But the WPIAL second-best defensive unit (behind Peters Township) struggled to stop Fort Cherry’s explosive offense, which coincidentally led the WPIAL at 45.6 points per game.

The Rangers were particularly productive in the second quarter with three scoring drives that turned a 14-6 deficit into a 28-14 halftime lead.

Tons of touchdowns

Fort Cherry quarterback Matt Sieg had a hand in four touchdowns with two scoring runs and two TD passes.

The sophomore signal-caller now has factored into 58 touchdowns this season.

He has thrown for 1,504 yards and 20 touchdowns and run for 1,963 yards and 35 scores. He also has returned an interception for a touchdown and returned two punts for scores.

Stat of the game

Besides Sieg’s two-way prowess, throwing for 166 yards and running for 178, the most interesting statistic of the WPIAL Class A championship game was the total rushing yards for each team.

Fort Cherry ran for 274 yards on 57 carries, while South Side used its wing-T attack to accumulate 257 yards on 31 carries, an average of 8.29 yards per carry.

The Rams’ Brody Almashy ran for 113 yards and two scores, and Andrew Corfield had 98 rushing yards and a score.

Fort Cherry’s advantage in time of possession (30:10-17:47) also played a key role in the victory.

Pregame ‘Beard’ sighting

Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Brett Keisel was the honorary captain for the WPIAL Class A championship and was on the field for the pregame coin toss.

Keisel, known for his lengthy beard, made 408 tackles (253 solo) and had 30 sacks over a 13-year career with the Steelers.

Up next

Fort Cherry (14-0) will play District 9 champion Redbank Valley (12-1) in the PIAA semifinals Dec. 1 or 2.

Highlights

Bill Hartlep is the TribLive sports editor. A Pittsburgh native and Point Park graduate, he joined the Trib in 2004, covering high school sports. He held various editing roles before assuming his current position in 2019. He can be reached at bhartlep@triblive.com.

Tags: Fort Cherry, South Side