Fort Cherry stymies Laurel, sets up rematch with Wash High
BEAVER – Eli Salvini ran for 118 yards and two touchdowns, and Fort Cherry’s defense bottled up Laurel for a 28-0 victory in the WPIAL Class A quarterfinals game Friday night at Beaver High School’s Pat Tarquinio Field.
Salvini scored on runs of 11 and nine yards.
Fort Cherry (10-2) beat Laurel 21-17 in a game played back in September. This one was not as close because of the Rangers’ defense. And Fort Cherry’s win sets up another rematch for the fourth-seeded Rangers, who will play top-seeded Washington in the semifinals next weekend. Wash High dealt Fort Cherry a loss in a Black Hills Conference game.
The Rangers took the opening kickoff and needed less than three minutes to find the end zone on the first of Salvini’s touchdowns.
Laurel struggled to move the football the entire first half as Fort Cherry outgained the Spartans 252-19 over the first two quarters.
FC quarterback Colin Sieg connected with Landon Trnavsky on a 28-yard touchdown pass that gave the Rangers a 14-0 lead with 9:02 left in the first half. Sieg completed eight of 13 passes for 173 yards.
Salvini’s second touchdown made it 21-0, and after Sieg threw a fourth-down pass to Nathan Wolfe that put the ball on the Laurel five-yard line, Ryan Huey ran the ball into the end zone from there, making it 28-0 with 2:30 to play in the half.
Neither team scored in the second half.
Salvini rushed for 92 yards on 16 carries in the first half.