Longtime rivals Penn-Trafford, Gateway will relish WPIAL Class 5A final matchup

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, November 16, 2017 | 1:24 PM

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While their decades-old tradition was interrupted by changing times and school mergers, Penn-Trafford and Gateway revived their annual “Victory Bell” custom several years ago, wheeling out the refurbished, yet still vintage-looking bell to present to the yearly winner of the rivalry game.

Long gone are the Trafford Tomahawks and Pitcairn Railroaders, but the modern version of the teams still relish playing each other.

Their latest meeting is one for the ages — enough to make the bell toll for days; enough for its churchlike clinging and clanging to be heard in Harrison City, Monroeville, and anywhere in between.

The teams’ march toward a title culminates on Saturday night when they meet for the WPIAL Class 5A championship at the place where Le’Veon Bell plays, Heinz Field.

The winner this time gets the WPIAL trophy.

“It’s a friendly rivalry, we respect each other,” Gateway senior quarterback Brady Walker said. “It’s not like those games where teams hate each other. We always look forward to playing P-T.”

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Senior quarterback Brady Walker is one of the WPIAL’s most prolific passers. He ranks fourth all-time with 7,532 career passing yards. He has 78 career touchdowns, including 37 this season, some on dump-offs and others on deep balls.

He is a playmaker who can free-wheel and extend plays. Walker said he has played a portion of this season with a left shoulder injury. Bad shoulder and all, he threw for 210 yards against Penn-Trafford in Week 5, completing 22 of 42 attempts.

“We all need to come together as a team,” Walker said. “P-T is a great team offensively and defensively. We made mistakes last game and had some injuries. … Hopefully, we can get back to doing what we do well.

“It would mean everything to win. Everyone is supporting us. Alumni, residents of Monroeville. It would be great to bring that Gateway tradition back.”

Ruane has been to the finals five times — including four as an assistant at Gateway under Terry Smith, who now is an assistant at Penn State.

Senior leadership, a cohesive front line and skilled athletes who provide a balanced attack give Penn-Trafford a championship-caliber facade.

“We have great leadership with our seniors and even some underclassmen,” senior receiver/defensive back Cam Suman said. “We just have to go out and play our game.”

The running game has been unstoppable at times, with Gay taking handoffs, sophomore Caleb Lisbon working from the wildcat and quarterback Cam Laffoon keeping and darting. But the Warriors have shown plenty of effectiveness with the pass, too. Laffoon has quick-hit targets in Dimitri George and Suman, among others.

“We don’t want to allow teams to load the box by any stretch,” Ruane said. “Ultimately, we run the ball more than we throw it, but we have to have a lot of complements so that we have some running lanes. We would love to be 50-50, even though we run the ball more now.”

A sound running game can be critical to success on the Heinz Field sod. Central Catholic outrushed Penn-Trafford, 262-65, in the 2015 title game. The Vikings won 24-17.

Gay, who ran for 118 yards and two scores against the Gators in September, thinks the defense will have to shine again. The Warriors have allowed just 128 points all season.

“Our defense won us that game,” Gay said. “It’s hard to beat a team twice. Gateway is fighting for a championship just like we are. We need even a better effort than what we did the first time to beat them.”

Laffoon, a 1,400-yard passer and 700-yard rusher, will join his brother as a title-game starter. Brett Laffoon was Penn-Trafford’s quarterback in 2015.

“This is different than two years ago,” Cam Laffoon said. “We’re going there on a business trip.”

Bill Beckner Jr. is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Gateway, Penn-Trafford