Fort Cherry stymies Laurel, sets up rematch
High school football
Eli Salvini ran for 111 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.
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.
Pine-Richland 24
Trinity 6
Quarterback Aaron Strader ran for two touchdowns and passed for another as top-seeded Pine-Richland defeated Trinity 24-6 in a WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinal round game played on the Rams’ home turf.
Pine-Richland (10-1) scored on its first possession, which was capped by a 25-yard run by Strader with 8:08 left in the first quarter.
The Rams pushed their lead to 14-0 when Strader hooked up on a touchdown pass with wide receiver Cooper Stiscak, a Penn State baseball recruit, late in the first quarter to make it 14-0.
Trinity’s defense played very well for the remainder of the game but couldn’t generate enough offense to fuel a comeback.
The Hillers’ lone score came in the second quarter when quarterback Owen Samogala passed 51 yards to Ayvari Chandler. The extra-point attempt was no good, leaving the score at 14-6 with 8:54 remaining before halftime.
Pine-Richland, which had a bye in the first round, made it 21-6 when Strader scored on a three-yard quarterback draw on a third-down play.
The Rams got the ball back before halftime and kicker Landon Brown booted a 50-yard field goal into the wind that gave Pine-Richland a 24-6 lead heading into halftime.
Neither team scored in the second half.
Belle Vernon 21
Eliz. Forward 10
If Belle Vernon and Elizabeth Forward had a high-scoring affair two weeks ago in the regular-season finale, then Friday’s contest in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs was the anthesis, as the Leopards earned a 21-10 victory at West Mifflin High School.
Belle Vernon, who has won 11 straight games since losing, 34-6, to Thomas Jefferson in the season opener on Aug. 28, faces top-seeded Avonworth (11-1) in the semifinals.
Belle Vernon rallied to edge Elizabeth Forward, 29-28, on Oct. 30 to win the Class 3A Interstate Conference.
Elizabeth Forward (9-3) had a promising opening drive that stalled in the red zone and Luke Holdren kicked a 34-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead with 6:04 remaining in the first quarter.
Belle Vernon scored with 7:26 left in the second quarter when quarterback Jace Gedekoh pitched the ball to Chace Petrosky, who took the ball 17 yards into the end zone with 7:26 left in the first half for a 7-3 advantage.
The Leopards didn’t take long to score in the second half, as Petrosky raced 80 yards for a score and a 14-3 lead with 11:45 remaining in the third quarter. Petrosky had 110 yards on seven carries, but had to leave the game with an injury in the third period.
Vander Raczkowski’s 31-yard run drove the Leopards to EFs’s 13-yard line before quarterback Gedekoh called his own number and scored on a nine-yard run for a 21-3 advantage with 2:28 left in the third quarter.
The Warriors drove inside the Belle Vernon 10 late in the third quarter, but the Leopards forced a fumble and recovery.
EF scored a touchdown with 4:32 remaining in the fourth quarter when Logan Rider pulled in a 14-yard reception from Allen on fourth down to cut the deficit to 21-10.