Rangers roll, set up postseason rematch with Laurel
McDONALD – Everything was going just fine for Fort Cherry last year until the postseason.
Fort Cherry entered 2025 as two-time defending WPIAL champs and entered the playoffs a perfect 10-0, earning the top seed in Class A.
Operation three-peat was going great, with FC winning its first two playoff games. Then, the Rangers fell to Laurel in the semifinals, ending that dream.
This season, things are different.
Matt Sieg, arguably the greatest player in Fort Cherry history, is now starting at West Virginia.
FC lost its first regular-season game since 2022 to Monessen in September and lost another one to Washington at the end of the regular season and thus ended up with the No. 4 seed.
But what hasn’t changed is that Fort Cherry is still a force, and showed that by pounding No. 13 Avella 50-6, in a first-round playoff game Friday night to set up a rematch with Laurel, this time in the quarterfinals.
Fort Cherry defeated Laurel in a regular-season game back in mid-September.
For FC coach Tanner Garry, the approach is the same.
“I don’t think that these guys really look at it any differently just because they know that you have to show up and play your best every week,” he said. “They just told me, I didn’t realize it, but this senior group has never lost a game here in their four years of high school. That’s two years of junior high and their their youth years, too. So, yeah, it’s the approach remains the same. You’re still gonna have to play everyone, so you have to show up and put your best foot forward.”
Colin Sieg, Fort Cherry’s (9-2) freshman starting quarterback and Matt’s younger brother, only had to attempt five passes all night.
That can happen when you have running backs like seniors Eli Salvini and Ryan Huey.
Salvini gained 178 yards on eight carries with two touchdowns, and Huey added 75 yards on seven carries and two TDs.
It was the last home game for Fort Cherry’s seniors.
Fort Cherry scored on its first possession with a 73-yard drive that took 3:30. The Rangers decided to go for it on 4th-and-3 from the Avella 7, and it worked, with Huey running for a 7-yard TD.
On FC’s next drive, it drove 90 yards in 1:15, capping it on Huey’s second TD run, this one from three yards. FC continued to pour it on early in the second quarter on a 2-yard run by Sieg, which effectively put the game to bed.
FC’s Ethan Weinbrenner recovered a fumble on the next Avella possession, and one play later, Salvini ran for a 30-yard score.
It took FC just two plays to score on the next possession, with Landon Trnavsky rushing in for a 2-yard TD that would have put the mercy rule into effect had it been the second half.
Salvini made sure that wouldn’t be an issue with a 74-yard run later in the quarter.
With 13 seconds left, fullback Tyler Wolfe, on what will be his last home game, scored a two-yard touchdown.
Fort Cherry scored on each of its seven first half possessions.
Avella (6-5) avoided the shutout when Chas Rush scored on a TD run in the second half.
Eagles coach Ryan Cecchini feels Fort Cherry could go all the way and win a championship.
“Absolutely, absolutely,” he said. “They might not have Matt Sieg. His brother is pretty good player, too. And also the running backs, Salvini and Huey, are excellent. With a tandem like that, you can win a lot of games in Class A football, and they have as good a chance of getting there as anybody else.”