Nov 28, 2024 By Jonathan Guth 3 min read

When Fort Cherry played Clairton last Saturday in the WPIAL Class A football championship, the Rangers’ defense had to focus on multiple players who had the ability to score any time they touched the ball.

Coach Tanner Garry’s team will only need to focus on one Port Allegany player in tonight’s PIAA semifinal at PennWest Clarion.

The problem for Fort Cherry is that one player has the production of a group of players.

The Gators’ Aiden Bliss is a 6-0, 210-pound bruising back that has rushed for 2,880 yards on 264 carries and scored 52 total touchdowns (48 rushing) to lead Port Allegany to a 13-0 record and the District 9 championship.

Bliss averages 6.9 tackles per game from his spot at middle linebacker and has four interceptions.

“We’ve seen a good bit of them and they rely heavily on running the ball, especially with (Bliss),” Fort Cherry coach Tanner Garry said. “He is seventh in the country in rushing and second in points scored. This is a big kid that runs hard. They are big and physical up front. They will mix in a pass here and there, but they are definitely a running team that is going to come straight at you.”

Garry’s team comes into tonight’s contest with a 14-0 after knocking off the previously undefeated Bears, 21-20, but his players are not looking past the Gators.

“I think we are in a very lucky situation because we were in the state finals last year,” Garry said. “We got past that high and made it to the state championship. I think these kids are more hungry and want to get back there so bad.”

While Bliss does the bulk of the work for Port Allegany, fellow junior Tristan Kiser has rushed for 1,226 yards on 94 carries and scored 26 total touchdowns (20 rushing). Kiser did not play last week in a PIAA quarterfinal win over Wilmington.

Garry is confident in his team as it prepares against two running backs that have more than 4,000 yards rushing and a punishing line.

“At this point of the season you are going to run into some good football teams,” Garry said. “We are confident in our guys up front, and of course, our skill players.”

Port Allegany has Bliss and Kiser, but the Rangers have a Division I commit in Matt Sieg, who leads the offense at quarterback.

The Penn State commit showed his patience against Clairton in the WPIAL title game and wasn’t flustered despite not being able to break off his normal number of chunk plays. He got wide receiver Shane Cornali involved and threw the game-tying touchdown to running back Ryan Huey.

“Matt made some big plays in big moments, but we had other guys step up,” Garry said. “Shane Cornali had some big catches, and he threw the option pass to Ryan Huey on fourth down to keep our final scoring drive alive.

“We never get too high or low after something happens. We just say to the guys, ‘next play.’ They are all about picking each other up and onto the next play. We also had a huge contribution from our kicker, Nik Massey. The kicking game is part of the game that drives people crazy because it can make or break an entire game. Having a good kicker will definitely help you.”