Nov 2, 2022 3 min read

Name: Matt Sieg

School: Fort Cherry

Sport: Football

Class: Freshman

Sieg’s week: The Rangers quarterback had seven touchdowns – six rushing and one passing – and rushed for 366 yards in a 48-34 victory over rival Burgettstown in a Class A Black Hills Conference game last Friday.

The win secured second place in the conference via tiebreaker points and set Fort Cherry up for a home game in the WPIAL playoffs that begin Friday.

Sieg opened the scoring in the game on a 13-yard run and finished the half on a 17-yard scoring run. In between, he threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Adam Wolfe and had a 75-yard scoring run in the second quarter.

Sieg had three more touchdowns in the second half on runs of 3, 40 and 7 yards.

So, has Sieg ever scored seven touchdowns in a game before?

“Not that I know of,” he said. “Obviously, it was a great experience beating Burgettstown and putting up numbers like that in the game. The coaches put together an amazing game plan and the line blocked, opening every hole imaginable.”

Sieg has had an amazing season and it hasn’t ended yet. He is believed to be the only player to score seven touchdowns in a game in Fort Cherry history. That includes standout running backs Mike Vernillo and Brad Tokar.

Thousands of reasons for success: Sieg also became the first freshman in WPIAL history to pass for more than 1,000 yards and rush for more than 1,000 yards. He is believed to be one of 14 quarterbacks in WPIAL history with a 1,000-1,000 season.

“I didn’t really think that would happen,” said Sieg. “As I grew up and went to football games on Friday night, it’s always been a dream of mine to be quarterback of my hometown team. To do something like that, it is a blessing.”

Fort Cherry head coach Tanner Garry said the big thing with Sieg is how composed he is in games.

“There are a lot of freshmen who get playing time and you can tell they are freshmen,” Garry said. “He’s definitely someone who is comfortable on the football field. He’s been great.”

Garry, a former Fort Cherry quarterback, said one of the reasons Sieg gains so many yards is his elusiveness.

“In terms of what we wanted to do, starting him was a no-brainer,” said Garry. “We’ve had ours eyes on him from fifth or sixth grade. Once we got him up here, he took off with it.”

Fort Cherry (7-3) will host Monessen (6-4) Friday night in a Class A first-round playoff game at Jim Garry Stadium.

Compiled by Joe Tuscano

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