Turnovers doom Clairton in PIAA semifinal loss to Farrell

By: George Guido
Friday, November 29, 2019 | 10:14 PM

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It was a night of missed opportunities for WPIAL champion Clairton in the PIAA Class A semifinals against Farrell on Friday.

The Bears committed five turnovers, four inside the Farrell 10, and turned the ball over on downs three more times in Steelers territory as Farrell held on for a 13-10 victory at North Allegheny’s Newman Stadium.

Two long touchdown runs — a 56-yarder by quarterback Raymond Raver and a 59-yard sideline scamper by Anthony Stallworth — proved to be enough for Farrell.

The Steelers (13-2) will play Altoona’s Bishop Guilfoyle at 1 p.m. Thursday at Hersheypark Stadium.

Clairton, coming off its 14th WPIAL title, finished 11-2. It was the first PIAA playoff victory for Farrell over the Bears in five tries.

For Clairton coach Wayne Wade, it was too many points left on the field.

“This is one of our worst games,” Wade said. “Turnovers, penalties, false starts — usually things we don’t do. We didn’t play our best against a good football team.”

“My kids were resilient and played their hearts out tonight,” said first-year Farrell coach Anthony Pegues. “There’s a point in the game where we could have gave up and broke, and they stayed with it. Now, we’re going to Hershey.”

Farrell started the scoring with Raver’s run. The Bears looked ready to tie the game, but a fumble by Dontae Sanders was scooped up by Anthony Jackson in the end zone for a touchback.

Clairton regained possession on the Steelers 33 and scored two plays later as Kenlein Ogletree leaped between two Farrell defenders in the end zone to tie the game with 3 minutes, 22 seconds left in the half.

Later, the Bears appeared poised to take the lead , but Brendan Parsons fumbled at the Farrell 1. Dwight Ravenscraft pounced on the loose ball in the end zone for another touchback.

Clairton got the ball back with 9 seconds to go in the half at the Steelers 41.

Following a pass interference penalty at the Farrell 1, Ogletree kicked a 24-yard field goal on an untimed down to give Clairton a 10-7 lead at the intermission.

Brice Butler picked off a Parsons pass at the Farrell 7, but Clairton held.

On the next Steelers possession, Stallworth got loose on the right sideline and raced 59 yards for what turned out to be the game’s final score.

“We talk all the time about not giving up big plays, but that’s how the game played out,” Wade said.

Despite favorable field possession, Clairton couldn’t score again. Steelers junior Amarion Odem intercepted two passes in the fourth quarter and Sayvion Thomas sacked Parsons five times.

“Savion and the guys up front did a great job,” Pegues said. “Omar Stewart is my defensive coordinator and he and his guys developed a great gameplan. The offense wasn’t clicking tonight, and the defense wins championships, and this is a proven point for that.”

Said Wade on the turnovers: “That’s the ballgame. For any team to do that and still be in the football game, that’s a heckuva football team. We just didn’t have it tonight.”

Farrell ran just six plays in Clairton territory until the two kneel-downs to end the game after Thomas’ second interception with 1:15 to go.

Parsons had 125 passing yards to finish the season with 1,114 and 36 net rushing yards to finish with 1,034 in that category. Ogletree had 84 yards in receptions to go with his field goal.

Tags: Clairton