Fort Cherry wins shootout over Monessen
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
In a footrace down the sideline, Fort Cherry's Matt Sieg outruns Monessen's Tyvaughn Kershaw and scores on a 57 yard fourth-down run for the Rangers, putting them ahead, 41-36.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry quarterback Matt Sieg picks his way through the Monessen defense and gets the Rangers in scoring position late in the fourth quarter, sealing the victory in the WPIAL first round playoff game.
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Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
The Rangers’ Ethan Faletto opens the scoring with a 57-yard run to put Fort Cherry up 7-0 on their second play from scrimmage against Monessen.
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Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Monessen’s Lorenzo Gardner pulls in a 42-yard pass from Daniel Dozier to score for the Greyhounds late in the second quarter.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry quarterback Matt Sieg keeps the ball for a run to the two-yard line, setting up the score that put the Rangers ahead at halftime against Monessen.
McDONALD – The worst job to have Friday night was working the chain gang at Fort Cherry High School.
There was little time to rest.
Fort Cherry and Monessen combined for 14 touchdowns, keeping the chain crew running up and down the field for most of the three-hour game.
When it was over, Fort Cherry had a 56-42 victory in the opening night of the WPIAL Class A football playoffs.
The win send the Rangers against Rochester next week at a site and time to be determined.
“We kept explaining to the kids all week that they were dangerous,”said Fort Cherry head coach Tanner Garry. “We knew they had big plays and we knew they had kids who could make big plays. We were confident in our ability to move the ball.”
Quarterback Matt Sieg completed eight passes for 140 yards and rushed the ball 25 times for 247 yards and four touchdowns. Running back Ethan Faletto had 15 carries for 133 yards and a score.
“I won’t fault the effort,” said Monessen head coach Wade Brown. “We know they have the kids who can run and the kid who can throw it. (Sieg) is a great player. seeing him in person is much different than watching him on film. If we aspire to be a perennial playoff team, we’re going to have to go through him.
“How many times do you score 42 points and lose by double digits.”
The Rangers put the game away with three touchdowns, two of them in the third quarter.
Fort Cherry built a 35-28 against Monnessen. As might be too obvious to say, both defense had major problems stopping the other.
Fort Cherry scored on the second offensive play from scrimmage when Ethan Faletto broke off a 57-yard run.
Sieg made it 13-0 when he went over from two yards with 1:08 left in the first quarter.
Monessen erupted for 28 points in the second quartera nd still trailed by seven.
Jermere Majors broke off a nine-yard run and Lorenzo Gardner caught the two-point conversion pass to make it 13-8.
TyVaughn Kershaw broke free for a 56-yard scoring pass and Majors ran for two points to give the Greyhounds a 16-13 lead.
Sieg ran it in from 11 yards two minutes later to make it 20-16.
Tim Kershaw caught a 54-yard pass from brother TyVaughn to give Monessen a 22-20 lead
Shane Cornali gave the lead back to Fort Cherry when he caught a 35-yard pass from Sieg to make is 27-22 with 2:44 to go before halftime.
Gardner gave Monessen the lead two minutes later by catching a 42-yard touchdown pass. But the Greyhounds left too much time, :47, on the clock
Sieg made them pay with a 2-yard touchdown run. It was probably the turning point of the game.
“You could tell they were broken (after that score before halftime,” said Sieg. “We knew we had them where we wanted them.”