Fort Cherry on top: Rangers, QB Matt Sieg beat South Side to win program’s 1st WPIAL title

By: Josh Rizzo
Friday, November 24, 2023 | 1:47 PM

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Previous Next

Louis Ryan was sporting a gray 1997 WPIAL football championship cutoff shirt that had clearly seen better days. The shirt was worn down by sweat and age, but the Fort Cherry middle linebacker wore his dad’s old shirt as a reminder of what they were working toward.

Ryan and the second-seeded Rangers made school history Saturday at Acrisure Stadium by beating top-seeded South Side, 42-28, to win the program’s first WPIAL championship.

Ryan’s dad had lost to Riverview, 19-14, in the 1997 title game.

“I’d say we all saw this coming,” Ryan said. “At least I did. I’ve been saying this, people don’t expect us to be there. We were going to get one at some point. My dad got denied from his WPIAL championship in (1997). We knew freshman through senior year this is what we were going to work for. This is what we were going to do. We went out and got it done.”

Fort Cherry (14-0) went out and beat South Side in a manner atypical for the morning game at the WPIAL championships. The early game usually produces low-scoring slugfests. But the second-seeded Rangers produced 447 yards of total offense.

“We did a good job telling ourselves it was just another game,” sophomore quarterback Matt Sieg said. “We didn’t get distracted by being at Acrisure. We just did what we did.”

Sieg threw for 166 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 178 yards and scored twice.

The Rams were no slouch offensively, either. South Side quarterback Brody Almashy rushed for 113 yards and scored twice. The Rams gained 307 yards of total offense.

South Side (13-1) stumbled out of the gate, losing a fumble on the first play. Fort Cherry took advantage by going ahead 6-0 on a 3-yard run by Sieg.

The Rams didn’t let the early turnover deter them. South Side surged ahead 14-6 on the next two drives on touchdown runs by Brody Almashy and AC Corfield.

Rams coach Luke Travelpiece said South Side had to quickly adjust.

“That was the most amount of adversity we faced,” Travelpiece said. “We have been in similar situations where the ball goes on the ground and the opposing team moves the ball. We came back and took the lead. Our guys continued to fight and persevere.”

The game turned in the second quarter. With the score tied at 14, Almashy threw a deep pass to Carter Wilson on fourth down that bounced off Wilson’s hands and went incomplete.

Fort Cherry then drove the ball 65 yards. On fourth-and-goal from the 7-yard line, the Rangers went ahead for good, 21-14, on a reverse pass from Shane Cornali to Ethan Faletto with 2 minutes, 27 seconds left in the first half.

But it was only the start of a disastrous stretch for South Side (13-1). The Rams allowed touchdowns on three consecutive Fort Cherry drives to fall behind 35-14.

The Rangers scored with 3 seconds left in the first half when Sieg found Cornali on a 22-yard touchdown pass.

“We felt like we had an opportunity with some of the things we hadn’t shown yet,” Fort Cherry coach Tanner Garry said. “There were a couple points in the middle of that drive where it was let’s get to a field goal position. We got down there and took a few shots at the end zone.”

Fort Cherry then opened the second half with a long touchdown drive that ended with a 4-yard touchdown run by Sieg. South Side cut the deficit to two touchdowns twice in the second half, including on a 45-yard touchdown pass from Almashy to Carter Wilson with 56 seconds remaining. However, it wouldn’t be enough for South Side.

Fort Cherry will play the winner of District 10 champion Cambridge Springs and District 9 champion Redbank Valley in the PIAA semifinals next week.

Garry was emotional following the win, thinking of his grandfather, Jim, who coached the program for 44 years.

“He’d be proud,” Tanner Garry said. “He’s someone that I was on the sidelines for those games and grew up around the program. He had a chance to get it at times and didn’t have the opportunity to bring one home. To do it now with this group of kids, to do it with a group of kids who have been coachable and react well to adversity, it’s about them.”

Tags: Fort Cherry, South Side