McKeesport beats Belle Vernon in physical showdown

By: Dave Mackall
Friday, November 1, 2024 | 11:45 PM

McKeesport coach Matt Miller had a lot to smile about Friday night, but he secretly was fretting about his son’s physical condition following the Tigers’ bone-jarring, first-round playoff victory over Belle Vernon.

“He’s a tough kid,” Miller said of his namesake, junior linebacker Matt Miller, who injured his hand badly enough to be taken for treatment. “I’m his coach, but now I’ve got to be his dad.”

Miller still was smiling, though.

He said his son would be OK, but he’d hoped the injury — a broken thumb made worse by a nasty cut from when his hand was stepped on during the game’s final play — wouldn’t be too devastating.

“It was pretty physical out there,” the elder Miller said. “This is how we we play. It’s how Belle Vernon plays. For us, it was good. It was fun.”

Sophomore sensation Kemon Spell rushed for a career-high 277 yards and scored two touchdowns, including one of 65 yards, to lead McKeesport to a punishing 34-11 victory over visiting Belle Vernon in a first-round WPIAL Class 4A playoff game at Weigle-Schaeffer Memorial Stadium, the Tigers’ sixth consecutive triumph.

No. 3 seed McKeesport (7-4) will face No. 7 Mars (6-5) in the semifinals Friday night at a site to be determined. The Planets, on Eric Kasparowicz’s sixth second-half touchdown in the closing seconds, surprised No. 2 Montour, 48-42, on the road in a first-round matchup.

“At this point, you just want to win,” Miller said. “Right now, you want to win, stay healthy and get ready for next week’s game.”

The health of a number of players was on the minds of both teams, with each losing several players throughout the game. Some returned, though hobbled, and others did not.

Belle Vernon quarterback Curtis Wade was harassed all night by the McKeesport defense and took a nasty hit in the first half, stopping play for several minutes while he lay on the turf before being helped off. Wade recovered enough to return but appeared to be in pain. He finished 8 for 13 for 77 yards passing and totaled minus-10 yards rushing.

“Very physical game,” said Belle Vernon coach Matt Humbert, who led the Leopards to back-to-back WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A championships the past two seasons before No. 6 Belle Vernon (4-5) stepped up in class this season.

“At the end of the day, these seniors go out with a lot of wins. Prior to this season, they had lost only 3-4 games, career-wise. It was a little bit of a humbling approach this year, but when this thing is over, those kids will look back. They’ll reminisce. They’ll reflect. And they’ll realize the body of work that they put out there.”

The 15-year-old Spell, already committed to play at Penn State, gained 210 first-half yards as McKeesport built a a 20-3 lead. The early dominance was capped by the 5-foot-9, 185-pound back’s 65-yard touchdown run with 1 minute, 33 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

The score came after Belle Vernon’s Preston Rathway booted a 41-yard field goal to give the Leopards some short-lived momentum.

“He’s an amazing talent,” Miller said. “We have a lot of talented kids. But when everything goes wrong, Kemon is able to make chicken salad out of … you know.”

Spell missed a portion of preseason training camp with an injury and started the season slowly. He looked back on that time with regret, calling it “a rough start.

“But, you know, we stayed calm and got back into it at the end of the season,” Spell said.

“He’s a stud,” Humbert said, glancing towards the McKeesport side.

“The thing you say to the kids is just ‘this is part of life,’ ” he said. “You’re going to have great moments, you’re going to have bad moments. It’s just how you handle it, how you deal with it. We’ve had too many obstacles this year, and we haven’t been able to overcome many of them. And that was kind of the catalyst tonight. You’ve just got to deal with the hand. It’s a bad taste in your mouth.”

Spell, who carried 28 times, also scored a third-quarter touchdown on a 5-yard run.

“I’m looking to add more next week against a good team, and that’s pretty much it,” he said.

McKeesport led 9-0 after the first quarter, coupling a safety with quarterback Brady Eastman’s 1-yard keeper.

Ian Shiffler’s 24-yard field goal boosted the Tigers’ margin to 12-0 in the second before Rathway matched it with his 41-yarder to cut the Belle Vernon deficit to nine.

That’s when Spell broke free and raced into the end zone on one of his several long runs.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “It was a hard-hitting game. I’m banged up, but I take those every game, so I’m use to it now. I’ll go into rehab and be back next week.”

Kole Doppelheuer’s 2-yard touchdown run for Belle Vernon cut the McKeesport lead to 27-11 in the fourth quarter before Anthony Boyd raced 34 yards for a touchdown for the Tigers’ final score.

McKeesport dominated play from the start, outgaining Belle Vernon in total yards 429-107.

“We made a lot of mistakes, but obviously putting points on the board and stopping them for the most part, it worked out pretty well,” Miller said. “Tough game, hard fought. They’re tough. We’re a tough team. It was a good win. Any playoff game is a good win.”

Tags: Belle Vernon, McKeesport