Nijhay Burt carries No. 5 Steel Valley past Serra Catholic to clinch Allegheny Conference title

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, October 29, 2021 | 11:36 PM

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WPIAL rushing leader Nijhay Burt was averaging 2 yards a carry on his first 10 tries Friday night, yet nobody this season has frustrated the Steel Valley star for an entire game.

Serra Catholic tried to be the first.

“I know a lot of people on the team look up to me,” Burt said. “I know if I lose my composure, the team falls apart, so I try to stay as calm as possible.”

On his 11^th carry, Burt sprinted 73 yards for a touchdown, the first of his two scores and the highlight of his 197-yard rushing night as No. 5 Steel Valley clinched the Allegheny Conference title with a 28-7 win over No. 2 Serra Catholic. Burt’s long touchdown run broke a scoreless tie late in the second quarter of a game slowed down by frequent penalties.

“One seam and he’s gone,” said Serra coach Jose Regus, “and that opened it up.”

Burt, a 6-foot, 170-pound senior, entered Friday with more than 1,600 rushing yards as the WPIAL leader. He added a 5-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter and recovered a first-half fumble.

“It’s hard to compare (running backs), but he’s definitely one of the best I’ve had,” Steel Valley coach Ray Braszo said. “When you watch him, he just finds a crease and he’s gone. He has great speed, he’s got great vision and he’s not easy to bring down.

“He’s fun to watch.”

Steel Valley (9-0, 5-0) extended its lead to 21-0 when Nijhay Burt and his brother Nyzair Burt scored second-half touchdowns on consecutive possessions. Nyzair Burt caught a 45-yard touchdown from quarterback Cruce Brookins in the third quarter, and Nijhay Burt scored on a 5-yard run early in the fourth.

In between the two touchdowns, Steel Valley recovered a short kickoff that wasn’t intended to be onsides.

“It was supposed to be, just kick it hard, down on the ground,” Braszo said. “That’s what we did all night. The kick ended up where it did and we got an onside kick, which made us look smart again. … You’ve got to be lucky.”

Both teams entered undefeated, meaning whichever won was the outright conference champion. The title was Steel Valley’s first since 2017. Serra Catholic (10-1, 4-1) was trying to win its first conference title since 2007.

The WPIAL playoff pairings will be announced Saturday, and both teams are likely to draw good seeds.

“It’s not over (after this loss),” Regus said. “It’s a wakeup call.”

Serra Catholic’s offense lost a fumble, threw two interceptions and saw five possessions stall in Steel Valley territory. Eagles quarterback Max Rocco passed for 148 yards on 12 of 19 attempts, and wideout Terrell Booth had 132 receiving yards on eight catches. Rocco was sacked four times.

Serra’s only touchdown came on an 11-yard run by Machai Duetrieulle in the fourth quarter, capping an eight-play, 51-yard drive. Rocco was knocked out of the game by a hard hit three plays into the drive and replaced by backup Elijah Ward, who completed two passes for 53 yards on the possession.

Steel Valley answered with a seven-play, 70-yard touchdown drive that ended with a 15-yard quarterback run by Brookins to lead 28-7.

“We knew going into the game it wasn’t going to be easy,” Nijhay Burt said. “It was a dogfight. Toward the end, we figured them out.”

Steel Valley had led 6-0 at halftime on Burt’s 73-yard touchdown run.

But both offenses were stifled in the first half, in part by the defenses and also by penalties. The teams combined for 17 penalties before half including five 15-yarders called against Serra Catholic.

“There were a lot of mental mistakes,” Regus said. “We’ve just got to grow from that going into the playoffs. It’s time to start over, get back in the lab and get things together.”

Watch an archived broadcast of this game on Trib HSSN.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Serra Catholic, Steel Valley